CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) May 29, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today assigned Priceline.com Inc.'s proposed $1 billion convertible debt offering due 2020 its 'BBB' issue-level rating (at the same level as the corporate credit rating). The company will use proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases. We expect that Priceline.com will likely use proceeds to repurchase shares, offsetting the dilutive effect of its Kayak Software Inc. acquisition. On May 21, 2013, Priceline.com closed its acquisition of Kayak for $522 million in cash and about $1.29 billion in stock (based on closing stock price on May 20, 2013). Pro forma for the debt offering, adjusted debt leverage increased to 1.4x from 0.9x actual as of March
