Dutch Bank LeasePlan Downgraded To 'BBB' And Placed On Watch Negative On Proposed Acquisition By Investor Consortium

On July 23, 2015, Volkswagen AG and Dutch company Fleet Investments B.V., which jointly own Dutch bank LeasePlan Corporation N.V., announced their intention to dispose of their stakes to a consortium of investors. We now consider Volkswagen less likely to offer LeasePlan extraordinary support in case of financial need and classify LeasePlan as a nonstrategic part of the VW group. We are therefore lowering our rating on LeasePlan to 'BBB' from 'BBB+', indicating that we no longer modify the rating up by one notch for group support. We are also placing the 'BBB' long-term and 'A-2' short-term ratings on CreditWatch negative to reflect downside risks to the bank's financial profile, particularly its leverage, under the ownership of financial sponsors. At

...+ On July 23, 2015, Volkswagen AG and Dutch company Fleet Investments B.V., which jointly own Dutch bank LeasePlan Corporation N.V., announced their intention to dispose of their stakes to a consortium of investors. + We now consider Volkswagen less likely to offer LeasePlan extraordinary support in case of financial need and classify LeasePlan as a nonstrategic part of the VW group. + We are therefore lowering our rating on LeasePlan to '###' from '###+', indicating that we no longer modify the rating up by one notch for group support. + We are also placing the '###' long-term and 'A-2' short-term ratings on CreditWatch negative to reflect downside risks to the bank's financial profile, particularly its leverage, under the ownership of financial sponsors. At this stage, we consider these downside risks are limited to one notch. LONDON (Standard & Poor's) July 28, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings on Dutch bank LeasePlan Corporation...

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