On June 28, 2017, Newton, Mass.-based Government Properties Income Trust (GOV) announced plans to acquire First Potomac Realty Trust in a transaction valued at about $1.4 billion. Pro forma for the partially debt-financed transaction, credit metrics are expected to weaken with normalized debt to EBITDA approaching 7.5x by the end of 2018, compared with expectations for leverage of around 6.5x. We also view this acquisition as a shift of GOV's core strategy. We are revising our outlook to negative from stable and affirming the 'BBB-' corporate credit rating on GOV. At the same time we are revising our liquidity assessment to adequate from strong based on the announced acquisition and the need for significant debt financing. The negative outlook reflects
