Mars Inc. Assigned 'A' Issuer Credit Rating, Outlook Stable; Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. 'A' Issuer Credit Rating Discontinued

Mars Incorporated is launching its first 144A note issuance to repay existing debt in a leverage-neutral transaction. The company's pro forma leverage was approximately 2.8x as of December 2018. We are assigning our 'A' issuer credit rating to Mars Incorporated and our 'A' issue-level rating to the company's proposed 144A notes. At the same time, we are discontinuing our 'A' issuer credit rating on Mars subsidiary Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and affirming our 'A' issue-level rating on its existing 144A notes. We assigned one or more of the ratings we reference in this article by deviating from S&P Global Ratings' published criteria. Specifically, we did not include the preferred stock owned by the Mars family as adjusted debt in our

...+ Mars Incorporated is launching its first 144A note issuance to repay existing debt in a leverage-neutral transaction. The company's pro forma leverage was approximately 2.8x as of December 2018. + We are assigning our 'A' issuer credit rating to Mars Incorporated and our 'A' issue-level rating to the company's proposed 144A notes. + At the same time, we are discontinuing our 'A' issuer credit rating on Mars subsidiary Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and affirming our 'A' issue-level rating on its existing 144A notes. + We assigned one or more of the ratings we reference in this article by deviating from S&P Global Ratings' published criteria. Specifically, we did not include the preferred stock owned by the Mars family as adjusted debt in our credit metrics. + The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Mars will maintain adjusted leverage in the 2x-3x range over the next 12-24 months as it prioritizes repaying debt and combining its Wrigley confectionary and Mars chocolate businesses over undertaking...

Ratings Action