Bulletin: Ratings On Asciano Not Immediately Affected By Takeover Offer From Brookfield Infrastructure Group

SYDNEY (Standard&Poor's) July 1, 2015-- Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BBB/Stable' issuer credit rating on Australian port and rail operator Asciano Ltd. is not immediately affected by the announcement that the company has received an indicative, non-binding and conditional offer from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP; BBB+/Stable) to acquire the company through a combination of cash and units in BIP. The company has indicated that discussions are at a very early stage and the offer is subject to a number of conditions before a formal proposal is submitted. This means there is no certainty that the acquisition would be completed. Further, in the event BIP were to acquire Asciano, we believe there is an

...SYDNEY (Standard & Poor's) July 1, 2015-- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its '###/Stable' issuer credit rating on Australian port and rail operator Asciano Ltd. is not immediately affected by the announcement that the company has received an indicative, non-binding and conditional offer from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP; ###+/Stable) to acquire the company through a combination of cash and units in BIP. The company has indicated that discussions are at a very early stage and the offer is subject to a number of conditions before a formal proposal is submitted. This means there is no certainty that the acquisition would be completed. Further, in the event BIP were to acquire Asciano, we believe there is an extremely low probability of Asciano's rating benefiting from the stronger rating of BIP. This is because we only equate a subsidiary's rating to its parent's when the subsidiary is integral to the group's operations. Under Standard & Poor's policies, only...

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