Duke Energy Corp. is likely to complete the sale of its domestic merchant electric generating assets in early 2015. Although Duke has not confirmed how it will use sale proceeds, we think the company will employ the cash in a relatively balanced way that preserves credit measures. The asset sale will improve Duke's business risk profile, but the outcome of an internal review of its international business could negate that improvement if the company chooses a growth path for those riskier operations. We are affirming our ratings on Duke and its subsidiaries and revising the outlook to positive from stable. We base the positive outlook on the prospect of ratings improvement due to lower business risk as merchant energy operations
