WWY Wrigley WM JR

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) will replace Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (NYSE:WWY) in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Friday, October 3. Wrigley is being acquired by Mars Inc. in a deal expected to be completed before the market opens on Monday, October 6, pending final approvals. Standard & Poor's will monitor this transaction, and post any relevant updates on its website: http://www.standardandpoors.com/. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is an integrated refreshment beverage business, marketing more than 50 beverage brands throughout North America. Headquartered in Plano, TX, the company will be added to the S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Soft Drinks Sub-Industry index. Following is a summary of the change: S&P 500 INDEX - October 3, 2008 COMPANY GICS ECONOMIC SECTOR GICS SUB-INDUSTRY ADDED Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Consumer Staples Soft Drinks DELETED Wm. Wrigley Jr. Consumer Staples Packaged Foods & Meats Additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the companies concerned. About Standard & Poor's Index Services Standard & Poor's Index Services, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Its family of indices includes the S&P 500, an index with $1.5 trillion invested and $4.85 trillion benchmarked, and the S&P Global 1200, a composite index comprised of seven regional and country headline indices. For more information, please visit http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices. About Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is the world's foremost provider of financial market intelligence, including independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With approximately 8,500 employees, including wholly owned affiliates, located in 21 countries. Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for more than 140 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit http://www.standardandpoors.com/. DATASOURCE: Standard & Poor's CONTACT: David M. Blitzer, Ph.D., Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee, +1-212-438-3907 Web Site: http://www.standardandpoors.com/

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