S&P cuts VNU, rates loan B+, notes CCC+

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on VNU NV to B from B+.

At the same time, the B short-term corporate credit rating was affirmed, the agency said, adding that all ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications on Oct. 12.

The outlook is negative.

The agency said it assigned its B+ long-term debt rating and 1 recovery rating to the $5.856 billion proposed senior secured facilities borrowed at the level of Nielsen Finance LLC, VNU Holding and Finance BV and ACNielsen Company of Canada and its CCC+ long-term debt rating to the proposed $835 million senior unsecured notes due 2014 and $835 million senior subordinated discount notes due 2016 to be issued by Nielsen Finance LLC.

S&P said that the two-notch differential between the rating on the group's unsecured debt issues and the corporate credit rating acknowledges the materially disadvantaged recovery position of these debt issues relative to the group's substantial senior secured bank debt.

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