Bulletin: Cable One Inc.'BB' Corporate Credit Rating Unaffected By Plan To Acquire Telecommunications Management d/b/a NewWave

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 18, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its ratings and outlook on Phoenix-based Cable One Inc. (BB/Stable/--) are not immediately affected by the company's announcement that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sikeston, Mo.-based Telecommunications Management (dba NewWave Communications (B/Stable/--)) in a transaction valued at approximately $735 million and funded mostly by debt. Our ratings factored in the potential for an acquisition of this magnitude. While adjusted pro forma leverage will be around 3.0x, up from about 1.2x for the 12 months ended Sept 30, 2016, it is still below our stated downgrade trigger of 4.0x. We expect modest de-leveraging over the next year from organic earnings growth combined with synergies stemming

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 18, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its ratings and outlook on Phoenix-based Cable One Inc. (##/Stable/--) are not immediately affected by the company's announcement that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sikeston, Mo.-based Telecommunications Management (dba NewWave Communications (B/Stable/--)) in a transaction valued at approximately $735 million and funded mostly by debt. Our ratings factored in the potential for an acquisition of this magnitude. While adjusted pro forma leverage will be around 3.0x, up from about 1.2x for the 12 months ended Sept 30, 2016, it is still below our stated downgrade trigger of 4.0x. We expect modest de-leveraging over the next year from organic earnings growth combined with synergies stemming mostly from reductions in corporate overhead. Notably, NewWave also brings a substantial amount of tax assets that can bolster cash flow in future years. We view the acquisition as a slight improvement to Cable...

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