NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 26, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today said its ratings on Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (A+/Watch Neg/A-1+) are not affected by news that the company will divest psoriasis treatment Otezla (marketed by Celgene Corp.) for $13.4 billion in gross proceeds, more than our previous estimate. The transaction lowers our projections for the combined company's 2020 year-end leverage to the high-1x area from our previous expectation of the low-2x area. However, this is still considerably higher than the minimal leverage levels the company has historically maintained. Our ratings on Bristol-Myers are currently on CreditWatch, where we placed them with negative implications on Jan. 3, 2019. We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement on Bristol-Myers when its acquisition of
