Salomon CMBS Classes Downgraded

Five classes of Salomon Brothers Mortgage Securities VII Inc., commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2000-C2, have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service.The downgrades were as follows: class J, from Ba2 to B3; class K, from Ba3 to Caa1; class L, from B2 to Caa2; class M, from Caa1 to Caa3; and class N, from Caa2 to Ca. In addition, Moody's affirmed the ratings on nine other classes of Salomon mortgage-backed securities. The downgrades were attributed to realized and expected losses from specially serviced loans, loan-to-value ratio dispersion, and interest shortfalls. The certificates are collateralized by 178 mortgage loans secured by commercial and multifamily properties. Nine loans, representing 9.6% of the pool, are in special servicing. Moody's said it has estimated aggregate losses of approximately $22.5 million for all the specially serviced loans. The pool collateral is a mix of office (36.9%), retail (21.6%), industrial and self storage (18.3%), multifamily (11.5%), lodging (1.7%), mixed-use (1.2%), and health care (0.3%) loans, and U.S. government securities (8.5%).