...Fitch Ratings affirmed Royal Philips' (Philips) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured ratings at 'A-' on 28 July 2017. The Outlook is Stable. The affirmation is driven by Fitch's expectation that Philips' credit profile will remain in line with the group's ratings, following the announcement of multiple acquisitions, including Spectranetics for EUR1.9 billion, and a new shareholder buyback programme totalling EUR1.5 billion. Fitch expects modest negative impact on leverage metrics in the short-term, mitigated thereafter by improved free cash flow (FCF) generation, completed sale of Lumileds and the sell down of Philips Lighting shares Fitch forecasts that funds from operations (FFO) net leverage will be around 1.5x in the medium term, which is commensurate with the `A' rating median for capital goods companies....
