Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said BCE Inc.'s (A/Stable/A-1) public offering of an aggregate C$2 billion of debt securities does not affect the ratings or outlook on the company. Previously, Standard&Poor's had assigned its single-'A'-minus ratings to the senior unsecured bonds, which were expected to total C$1.5 billion. The final offering consists of C$300 million 6.20% series A notes due 2006; C$1.05 billion 6.75% series B notes due 2007; and C$650 million 7.35% series C notes due 2009. Although this increases pro forma total operating lease-adjusted debt to EBITDA to around 2.6 times (x), Standard&Poor's expects BCE will prudently manage this figure down to around 2.2x in the next couple of years. Expected softer growth
