On Feb. 1, Dutch bank LeasePlan Corporation N.V. announced that regulators have approved its sale to a consortium of investors, funded through a mix of shareholder equity and debt. In our view, the transaction structure and resulting double leverage restricts the financial flexibility of the group, diminishing the creditworthiness of LeasePlan. We are therefore lowering our ratings on LeasePlan to 'BBB-/A-3' from 'BBB/A-2' and removing them from CreditWatch negative, where they were placed on July 28, 2015. We are also assigning a 'BB+' issuer credit rating to Lincoln Financing Holdings PTE Ltd. (Singapore), the intermediary nonoperating holding company of the vehicle issuing the proposed senior secured notes that will part-fund the acquisition. The stable outlook on LeasePlan reflects our view
