We expect Boston Scientific Corp. to report substantial EBITDA margin improvement in 2017 as litigation expenses, which we treat as an operating expense, subside. Moreover, we believe the company's progress toward settling the overwhelming majority of the pelvic mesh cases and the subdued level of legal expenses over the past four quarters suggests that the risk of a significant increase in legal expenses/reserves is low. We are therefore more confident about the trajectory of rapid deleveraging to below 4x for 2017, a level consistent with the rating, from above 5x in 2015 and 2016. The company's strong recent operating performance trend with revenue growth moderately outperforming peers, helped by a wave of new product launches, also supports the rating. We
