...NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) March 5, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has assigned its '##' debt rating to Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRK) new issue of 3.0 billion senior unsecured notes to be issued in three tranches. BRK will use the net proceeds of this offering to replace its $1.7 billion aggregate principal amount of 3.2% senior notes that matured on Feb. 11, 2015. BRK will use the remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes. BRK's adjusted financial leverage and fixed-charge coverage (excluding the separately rated subsidiaries MidAmerican Energy Co. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC and the borrowings used to fund the finance operations of Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance Inc. that are treated as operating leverage) are conservative. BRK's adjusted financial leverage was 9% and EBITDA fixed-charge coverage was about 25x as of Dec. 31, 2014. Taking into account this issue and the repayment of the 3.2% notes, pro-forma financial leverage increases...
