NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 8, 2012--Standard&Poor's Rating Services said today that it assigned its issue-level and recovery ratings to Weight Watchers International (WWI) Inc.'s proposed new senior secured debt: up to approximately $900 million to $1 billion in bank debt and up to approximately $500 million to $600 million in institutional debt, due in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The assigned issue-level rating for each tranche is 'BB+', one notch above the corporate credit rating on WWI. The recovery rating is '2', indicating our expectation for substantial recovery (70% to 90%) in the event of a payment default. WWI will use the proceeds from this up to $1.5 billion total new issuance for share repurchases. Artal Holdings
