Bulletin: Fomento Economico Mexicano Ratings Unaffected By Announcement Of Socofar Acquisition

MEXICO CITY (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 14, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that Fomento Económico Mexicano's (FEMSA) announcement of the reached agreement for the acquisition of a 60% stake in Socofar (the holding company of Farmacias Cruz Verde Chile—100% ownership--and Colombia—60% ownership) has no immediate impact on the 'A-/Stable' and 'mxAAA/Stable' ratings on the FEMSA. FEMSA would pay for this acquisition with own cash, an amount that is higher than what we projected for acquisitions in 2015; however, even considering this acquisition, the company's debt to EBITDA ratio would remain below 1.5x and, therefore, has no immediate impact on the company's financial risk profile. However, we believe the company's liquidity could be slightly affected although having no impact

...MEXICO CITY (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 14, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said that Fomento Econ=mico Mexicano's (FEMSA) announcement of the reached agreement for the acquisition of a 60% stake in Socofar (the holding company of Farmacias Cruz Verde Chile--100% ownership--and Colombia--60% ownership) has no immediate impact on the 'A-/Stable' and 'mxAAA/Stable' ratings on the FEMSA. FEMSA would pay for this acquisition with own cash, an amount that is higher than what we projected for acquisitions in 2015; however, even considering this acquisition, the company's debt to EBITDA ratio would remain below 1.5x and, therefore, has no immediate impact on the company's financial risk profile. However, we believe the company's liquidity could be slightly affected although having no impact on the final rating, especially considering its 'Exceptional' liquidity. Our expectations for GDP growth in Chile and Colombia in 2015 (2.7% and 3%, respectively)--in which FEMSA would now have...

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