Boston Scientific Corp. 'BBB-' Rating Affirmed Following $600 Million Legal Settlement

Boston Scientific Corp. announced a legal settlement with Johnson&Johnson relating to the Guidant acquisition, under which Boston Scientific will pay $600 million over the next two months. We expect the company to use cash on hand and from free cash flow for the payment. Although this settlement increases our adjusted net debt leverage by about 0.4x to about 4.5x, which is weak for our financial risk assessment of "significant," we expect leverage to decline to 4.2x for 2015 and to 4.0x or below for 2016. We are affirming our 'BBB-' corporate credit rating and issue-level ratings on Boston Scientific Corp. The stable rating outlook on Boston Scientific reflects our expectation for low- to mid-single-digit revenue growth in 2015,

...+ Boston Scientific Corp. announced a legal settlement with Johnson & Johnson relating to the Guidant acquisition, under which Boston Scientific will pay $600 million over the next two months. We expect the company to use cash on hand and from free cash flow for the payment. + Although this settlement increases our adjusted net debt leverage by about 0.4x to about 4.5x, which is weak for our financial risk assessment of "significant," we expect leverage to decline to 4.2x for 2015 and to 4.0x or below for 2016. + We are affirming our '###-' corporate credit rating and issue-level ratings on Boston Scientific Corp. + The stable rating outlook on Boston Scientific reflects our expectation for low- to mid-single-digit revenue growth in 2015, with the help of double-digit growth in certain smaller product and geographic markets. NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 18, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today affirmed its ratings on Marlborough, Mass.-based Boston Scientific Corp., including...

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