On Sept. 5, 2016, Germany-based health care group Fresenius SE&Co. KGaA (FSE) announced that it acquired Spanish private hospital operator IDCSalud Holding S.L.U. (IDC) for about €5.76 billion. Although the transaction will be primarily debt financed, it will not cause FSE's debt protection metrics to deteriorate beyond the levels we assume under our base case. We are therefore affirming our 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term corporate credit ratings on FSE. The stable outlook reflects our view that FSE will manage its discretionary spending such that group's adjusted debt to EBITDA will remain below 4x. On Sept. 7, 2016, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'BBB-' long- and 'A-3' short-term corporate credit ratings on Germany-based health care group Fresenius SE
