...February 27, 2024 NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 27, 2024--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'A-' issue-level rating to Norwalk, Conn.-based Booking Holdings Inc.'s proposed euro-denominated senior unsecured notes. The company intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including debt refinancing and share repurchases. The notes will rank pari passu with the company's existing senior unsecured notes. The issue-level rating is the same as our 'A-' issuer credit rating on Booking. All of our ratings on Booking are unchanged because we expect the company's leverage will remain well within our 1.5x downgrade threshold over the next two years. We believe Booking will maintain a conservative financial policy despite its plan to gradually move to positive net leverage of about 1x over time versus historical negative net leverage. As of Dec. 31, 2023, the company had approximately $14.2 billion of debt outstanding and roughly $12.7 billion of cash and short-term investments....
