AbbVie Inc. attempted to buy the British drug company Shire plc for $46 billion for a mix of cash and stock. Standard&Poor's is not commenting on any rating impact from the proposal, given that the offer has been rejected and the likelihood for the completion of a transaction is uncertain at this time. We are revising our rating outlook to stable from positive. While we believe that AbbVie has the potential to maintain conservative financial policies over the longer-term, AbbVie's pursuit of such a transaction signals a near-term willingness to stray from the conservative financial policy that was incorporated into the positive outlook. Our stable outlook reflects AbbVie's steady operating performance and good cash flows, offset by an
