NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 22, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today noted Atlanta-based home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc.'s announcement that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Interline Brands Inc. Home Depot expects to close on the acquisition by the end of its third quarter 2015. This transaction does not affect our ratings or outlook on Home Depot. We expect leverage metrics to remain within the 2x range, in line with our expectations for our ratings. Pro forma if Home Depot finances the planned Interline Brands acquisition in an all-debt transaction and Home Depot's second-quarter $2.5 billion debt issuance, we see leverage increasing to about 1.8x from 1.5x at the end of its first quarter ended
