Bulletin: Signet Jewelers' Proposed Debt-Funded Acquisition Of R2Net Has No Immediate Ratings Impact, But Presents Increased Risks

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 24, 2017--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings, including the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating, and negative outlook on Signet Jewelers Ltd. are not affected by the company's planned debt-funded acquisition of R2Net. We expect the company to fund the transaction with additional borrowings, which will lead to pro forma leverage of slightly more than 3x, up from about 2.8x as of Aug. 24, 2017. Our ratings incorporate the assumption that the company will promptly reduce debt once it receives proceeds from the partial sale of its credit operations, which we expect to occur in Signet's third quarter of fiscal 2018. R2Net owns online diamond jewelry retailer JamesAllen.com and Segoma Imaging Technologies, which provides

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 24, 2017--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings, including the '###-' corporate credit rating, and negative outlook on Signet Jewelers Ltd. are not affected by the company's planned debt-funded acquisition of R2Net. We expect the company to fund the transaction with additional borrowings, which will lead to pro forma leverage of slightly more than 3x, up from about 2.8x as of Aug. 24, 2017. Our ratings incorporate the assumption that the company will promptly reduce debt once it receives proceeds from the partial sale of its credit operations, which we expect to occur in Signet's third quarter of fiscal 2018. R2Net owns online diamond jewelry retailer JamesAllen.com and Segoma Imaging Technologies, which provides interactive diamond display technology service to JamesAllen.com. We believe the acquisition increases Signet Jewelers' financial burden relative to the minimal operating contribution from R2Net over the next one to two years. As a result,...

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