Moody's affirms CME

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the long-term senior ratings at Aa3 of CME Group Inc. following its decision to raise an additional $613 million of term debt to acquire a 90% interest in the indexes business of Dow Jones and Co.

The outlook is stable.

Although the transaction will cause CME's leverage to spike temporarily, Moody's said the firm generates substantial cash flow that can be used to repay debt quickly.

Moody's cautioned that the premium being paid for the acquisition of the Dow Jones business will initially raise the debt-to-EBITDA ratio to nearly 1.6x, which is high for an Aa company.

These actions raise some doubt regarding management's willingness to reduce debt, the agency said.

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