CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 24, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'BBB+' issue-level rating to The Priceline Group Inc.'s proposed euro-denominated senior debt offering. The company will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases, debt repayments, and acquisitions. The issue-level 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 with no debt leverage. The debt leverage threshold for our 'BBB+' corporate credit rating on Priceline is 1x. We assess Priceline's financial risk profile as "modest" because of its net cash position, no leverage, moderate financial policy, and strong discretionary cash flow generation, which partly are
