Bulletin: Ratings On Asciano Unchanged At 'BBB' On Potential Brookfield Acquisition And Increased Leverage

SYDNEY (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 18, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BBB/Stable' issuer credit ratings on Asciano Ltd. are unaffected by the announcement that the company's board has recommended the acceptance of an offer by Brookfield Infrastructure to acquire 100% of the shares in Asciano for about A$9.15 per share. As part of this announcement, Brookfield Infrastructure has indicated that the entity that will acquire Asciano would seek to raise about A$1.9 billion of debt. We believe the transaction, if completed, would not impact Asciano's rating because the negative impact of increased leverage would be offset by the benefit of the stronger credit quality of its controlling shareholder, Brookfield Infrastructure (BBB+/Stable). We believe that Brookfield Infrastructure

...SYDNEY (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 18, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its '###/Stable' issuer credit ratings on Asciano Ltd. are unaffected by the announcement that the company's board has recommended the acceptance of an offer by Brookfield Infrastructure to acquire 100% of the shares in Asciano for about A$9.15 per share. As part of this announcement, Brookfield Infrastructure has indicated that the entity that will acquire Asciano would seek to raise about A$1.9 billion of debt. We believe the transaction, if completed, would not impact Asciano's rating because the negative impact of increased leverage would be offset by the benefit of the stronger credit quality of its controlling shareholder, Brookfield Infrastructure (###+/Stable). We believe that Brookfield Infrastructure would support Asciano in the event of financial stress given the size of this new investment, which would represent a material portion of the Brookfield Infrastructure group from a cash flow...

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