NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 27, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'A' senior unsecured debt rating to Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s planned $700 million senior unsecured debt issues, which consist of $250 million of 3.875% notes due 2021 and $450 million of 5.3% notes due 2041. We expect the company to use net proceeds from the debt issuance for general corporate purposes, which includes the funding of share repurchases. The company indicated that it plans to buy back about $1.5 billion of common stock in 2011. We expect that the remaining shares repurchased in 2011 will be funded primarily through cash flow generation. The company had approximately $5.5 billion of reported debt outstanding as of
