U.S. payment provider VeriFone Systems announced that it is acquiring Sweden-based Point International. VeriFone will issue about $1.5 billion of debt, consisting of $1.1 billion to fund the acquisition and about $495 million to refinance existing debt. We are revising the outlook to stable from positive and affirming the 'BB-' corporate credit rating. We also are placing the 'BB-' rating on the existing unsecured convertible notes on CreditWatch Negative, reflecting the proposed addition of senior secured debt to the capital structure. The outlook revision reflects higher pro forma leverage following the acquisition of Point, and increased integration risks. On Nov. 15, 2011, Standard&Poor's Rating Services revised its outlook on San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone Systems Inc. to stable from
