U.S. data center operator Equinix Inc.'s significant scale, geographic diversity, and interconnection capabilities position the company well to take advantage of favorable data center industry trends. We are raising the corporate credit rating on Equinix to 'BB+' from 'BB' and removing all ratings from CreditWatch. The stable outlook reflects our view that adjusted net leverage will remain above 4x over the next year as lower cash balances and possible incremental debt to fund expansion and dividends partly offset earnings growth. On Aug. 17, 2016, S&P Global Ratings raised its corporate credit rating on Redwood City, Calif.-based Equinix Inc. to 'BB+' from 'BB' and removed all ratings from CreditWatch, where we had placed them with positive implications on July 25, 2016.
