S&P downgrades South Africa power utility Eskom to junk

Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Thursday downgraded its ratings for South African utility Eskom [ESCJ.UL] to junk, which will almost certainly raise borrowing costs for the cash-strapped firm that generates most of the power in Africa's most advanced economy. The ratings agency, which also gave Eskom a "negative outlook," said in a statement that last week's shock suspension of the utility's CEO and three other senior executives "has led us to have less conf