On Nov. 17, 2003, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on TRW Automotive Inc. to positive from stable following the company's announcement that it plans to sell $350 million of equity and use the proceeds to reduce debt. The 'BB' corporate credit rating on Livonia, Mich.-based TRW was affirmed. The company had total debt (including the present value of operating leases) of about $3.5 billion on Sept. 26, 2003. The equity offering will modestly reduce TRW's debt leverage and improve cash flow protection, although the company's credit statistics will remain below average. Pro forma total debt to EBITDA will decline to about 3.1x from 3.5x, and funds from operations to debt will increase to about 20% from 18%.
