Corporate credit rating: AAA/Stable/A-1+ Cincinnati-based Procter&Gamble Co. today announced that it is buying Clairol from Bristol-Myers for $4.95 billion in cash. Clairol is Bristol-Myers' hair coloring and hair care products division, which generated approximately $1.6 billion in annual sales for Bristol-Myers in 2000. The sale of Clairol, along with a planned spin-off of its orthopedics division, Zimmer, allows Bristol to concentrate on its core pharmaceuticals business. Standard&Poor's said that the divestitures do not have an impact on its current ratings and outlook on New York City-based Bristol-Myers. Though the divestitures do remove a measure of diversity from the company's cash flows (Clairol and Zimmer, combined, generated $700 million of Bristol's $4.7 billion in annual cash flows)
