CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 13, 2014--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'BBB+' issue-level rating to The Priceline Group Inc.'s proposed $1 billion convertible senior debt offering due 2021. The company will use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases and repaying debt. Priceline recently closed its $2.6 billion acquisition of OpenTable Inc., and we expect that it will use part of the proceeds to reduce outstanding balance under its revolving credit facility. The issue rating is at the same level as the corporate credit rating on Priceline. Pro forma for the debt offering, we expect Priceline to maintain a net cash position. Our debt leverage threshold for our 'BBB+' corporate credit rating
