The agencies are expected to make a judgment on Lend Lease's rating next month. Sources suggest the current rating could be maintained without raising equity or selling assets if the agencies can be persuaded to rethink the metrics required for the company to maintain an investment-grade rating in light of Lend Lease's evolving business, which has an increasing weighting towards passive property income rather than development activity. If Lend Lease wins this argument, it will deserve congratulation. Ratings agencies are typically loathe to revisit key leverage metrics absent a significant improvement in business risk. Consequently it is unlikely that Lend Lease can persuade Standard & Poor's to relax its target for a BBB-/A-3 rating, namely that funds from operations be at least 30 per cent of the company's debt burden. Hitting this target would require that Lend Lease raise an additional $300 million in equity, or complete significant asset sales before mid-March.