Comcast Corporation -- Moody's says Comcast's acquisition of the remaining 49% stake in USJ does not impact its A3 rating

New York, February 28, 2017 -- Moody's Investors Service said that Comcast Corporation's (Comcast, A3 stable) announcement on February 28, 2017, that it agreed to acquire the remaining 49% equity stake in Universal Studios Japan (USJ) that it does not own for approximately $2.3 billion, does not impact ratings. Upon closing, the company will own 100% of USJ. Moody's expects most of the equity purchase price to be initially financed using Comcast's commercial paper program. Previously, we have de-consolidated USJ from Comcast's results, removing 49% of USJ's EBITDA and debt from Comcast. Going forward, we will no longer make these adjustments as Comcast will own 100% of USJ. These adjustment reversals, plus the incremental debt expected to be raised to fund the 49% equity purchase, will slightly increase Comcast's leverage by about 0.1x, to approximately 2.5x (including Moody's standard adjustments). We expect Comcast to de-lever back to the low 2x range over the near term to improve balance sheet financial flexibility relative to its A3 long-term debt ratings as 2.5x is the maximum that we are comfortable for the ratings.

Vollständigen Artikel bei Moodys lesen