NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 5, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it assigned its 'AA+' senior debt rating to $8.0 billion of senior notes issued by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK; AA+/Stable/A-1+). BRK is issuing the notes in six tranches--three floating rate and three fixed rate--with maturity dates from 2011 to 2015. BRK will use proceeds from the issue to help fund its planned purchase of the shares it does not already own in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNSF) for approximately $26 billion in cash and stock. The BNSF transaction is pending shareholder approval, and we expect it to close no later than Feb. 15. BRK already owns more than 22% of the stock of BNSF. BRK
