Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said Telus Corp.'s (BBB/Negative/A-2) announced equity offering of 34.25 million shares for total proceeds of about C$337.4 million does not affect the ratings or outlook on the company. Proceeds will be used to repay debt. Telus has already repurchased C$150 million in notes in the open market (face value of C$210 million) and intends to repurchase additional notes of Telus and Telus Communications Inc. with maturities between 2003 and 2011. Although the company maintains an aggressive financial risk profile with about C$8.6 billion of long-term debt, this equity offering is in line with Telus' commitment to leverage reduction in the next 12 months. Notwithstanding, Standard&Poor's continues to expect total operating lease-adjusted debt
