The first acceptance period for Finnish power generator Fortum's non-binding offer for Uniper's shares ended on Jan. 16, 2018, resulting in Fortum now owning about 47% of Uniper's share capital. Consequently, Fortum's leverage has increased materially, reflected in our expectation that Fortum's adjusted funds from operations to debt will drop to below 25.0% in 2018 from 56.1% in 2016 and that its adjusted debt to EBITDA will jump to about 3.4x in 2018 from 1.4x in 2016. We are therefore lowering our rating on Fortum to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The outlook is negative, pointing to the uncertainty on the steps Fortum may take to strengthen its balance sheet and how it will manage its investment in Uniper, as well as
