Mexico-based bakery company, Bimbo, has announced the acquisition of East Balt Bakeries for approximately $650 million. The debt-financed transaction is likely to close during the second half of the year, subject to regulatory approvals. Pro forma for the transaction, we estimate Bimbo's adjusted debt to EBITDA trending below 3.0x by 2018. We're affirming our 'BBB' global scale and 'mxAA+' national scale corporate credit and debt ratings on Bimbo. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that despite the additional debt to fund the acquisition, Bimbo's leverage and cash flow ratios will remain broadly in line with our previous forecast through the end of 2018, with a leverage ratio below 3.0x and a discretionary cash flow (DCF) to debt above 10%. We
