S&P cuts Harman

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit rating on Harman International Industries Inc. to BB- from BBB+ and placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The rating action follows the announcement that Harman is to be acquired by KKR and GS Capital Partners in a transaction valued at $8 billion, the agency said.

S&P added that the BBB+ rating on Harman's $150 million 7.32% senior notes was affirmed, given that this debt maturity of July 1, 2007 precedes the expected closing of the proposed LBO transaction.

S&P noted that the downgrade reflects its expectation that the transaction will be funded largely with debt, significantly degrading Harman's credit measures, financial policy and liquidity.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.