AbbVie Inc.'s Senior Unsecured Notes Rated 'A'

BOSTON (Standard&Poor's) May 5, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'A' issue-level rating to AbbVie Inc.'s senior unsecured notes due in various maturities of three to 30 years. The notes will primarily fund the company's $21 billion acquisition of Pharmacyclics Inc. Our 'A' corporate credit rating on AbbVie Inc. reflects its well-established position in the branded pharmaceuticals market, offset by pro forma leverage in excess of 2x that we expect to improve over the next two years. AbbVie's highly profitable market-leading products and a promising pipeline over the next three years support our assessment of a "strong" business risk profile. Oncology drug Imbruvica, which AbbVie will obtain through the Pharmacyclics acquisition, will enhance the company's position

...RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH Related Criteria + Methodology And Assumptions: Liquidity Descriptors For Global Corporate Issuers, Dec. 16, 2014 + Key Credit Factors For The Pharmaceutical Industry, April 8, 2014 + Corporate Methodology, Nov. 19, 2013 + Corporate Methodology: Ratios And Adjustments, Nov. 19, 2013 + Group Rating Methodology, Nov. 19, 2013 + Management And Governance Credit Factors For Corporate Entities And Insurers, Nov. 13, 2012 + 2008 Corporate Criteria: Rating Each Issue, April 15, 2008 RATINGS LIST AbbVie Inc. Corporate Credit Rating A/Stable/A-1 New Rating AbbVie Inc. Senior Unsecured Notes* A *Various maturities. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect at www.globalcreditportal.com and at www.spcapitaliq.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column....

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