CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) March 5, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BB' rating and positive outlook on Priceline.com Inc. are not affected by the company's plan to issue up to $500 million in convertible senior notes due in 2015. Priceline.com plans to sell the notes in a private offering to qualified institutional investors pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933. The company will use up to $100 million of the proceeds to fund share repurchases and the rest for general corporate purposes, including debt repayment, share repurchases, and acquisitions. The debt offering will raise Priceline.com's pro forma lease-adjusted total debt to EBITDA to 1.1x (also after adjusting for $98 million of convertible debt
