International Flavors&Fragrances Inc. Ratings Placed On CreditWatch Negative On Merger with DuPont's N&B Business

New York City-based, International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. (IFF) announced a definitive agreement to merge with DuPont's Nutrition&Biosciences (N&B) in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The deal values the N&B business at $26.2 billion. DuPont shareholders will own 55.4% of the shares of the new company and existing IFF shareholders will own 44.6%. IFF will issue $7.5 billion in new debt to fund a one-time $7.3 billion special cash dividend to DuPont, resulting in pro forma 2020 debt to EBITDA just above 4x, up from our expectations of below 3.5x following the Frutarom acquisition. We are placing the issuer credit rating and senior unsecured issue ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications pending receipt of stand-alone financial information for

...December 16, 2019 - New York City-based, International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. (IFF) announced a definitive agreement to merge with DuPont's Nutrition & Biosciences (N&B) in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The deal values the N&B business at $26.2 billion. DuPont shareholders will own 55.4% of the shares of the new company and existing IFF shareholders will own 44.6%. - IFF will issue $7.5 billion in new debt to fund a one-time $7.3 billion special cash dividend to DuPont, resulting in pro forma 2020 debt to EBITDA just above 4x, up from our expectations of below 3.5x following the Frutarom acquisition. - We are placing the issuer credit rating and senior unsecured issue ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications pending receipt of stand-alone financial information for the N&B business and further confirmation that shareholders will approve the transaction in line with our expectations and pro forma leverage will be slightly above 4x. NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 16,...

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