We are affirming our 'BBB+' long-term corporate credit rating on Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., following the company's announced sale of a 20% interest in its financial services business to Scotiabank for C$500 million. We believe this transaction has a neutral effect on key business profile drivers, such as competitive position and profitability, potentially improving Canadian Tire's credit measures into the "modest" financial risk category. We are revising our choice of anchor to 'a-' from 'bbb+', reflecting the improved credit measures and expectation of a continued "strong" business risk profile. We apply our negative financial policy modifier, which has a one-notch negative impact on our rating outcome. We believe that improved leverage is a source of financial flexibility for growth, and
