CBS Corporation -- Moody's assigns a Baa2 rating to CBS Corporation's proposed notes issuance of benchmark size

New York, January 07, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service assigned a Baa2 rating to CBS Corporation's ("CBS") proposed senior unsecured notes offering of benchmark size, anticipated to be split in ten and thirty year maturities. The new notes will be senior unsecured obligations of CBS and will rank equally with all of CBS's other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations. The notes will be guaranteed by CBS Operations Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS. Proceeds from the new notes issuance will be used for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases and repayment of short-term borrowings. We estimate that pro forma for the new notes issuance and repayment of $431 million outstanding under the commercial paper program at 09/30/2014, debt-to-EBITDA will be lower than our 3.0x sustained leverage ceiling for the Baa2 rating. Accordingly, the transaction will not impact the company's Baa2 long term debt rating, Prime-2 short-term debt rating or the stable outlook and we expect that over the long-term adjusted gross debt-to-EBITDA and adjusted total debt (incorporating Moody's standard adjustments) will be sustained below our stated triggers for a downgrade. CBS's Baa2 senior unsecured rating considers its strong liquidity, management's commitment to investment grade ratings and our expectation that the company will manage future shareholder distributions and acquisitions within parameters outlined for its existing ratings.

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