Moody's: IBM unaffected

Moody's Investors Service said that IBM's senior unsecured debt rating of A1 and Prime-1 short term rating will not be affected by the company's announcement that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cognos of Ontario, Canada for $4.9 billion in cash.

"The rating remains supported by IBM's diversified, leading and defensible market positions in a range of information-technology products, software and services, in addition to its solid and consistent, earnings and operating cash flow, all of which contribute to expectations of continued pro forma strong debt protection measures and excellent liquidity profile," said Moody's senior vice president, Richard Lane.

Moody's said the announcement will not impact IBM's A1 senior unsecured credit rating since (1) its existing rating can accommodate the incremental debt likely to be associated with this acquisition and (2) the acquisition represents a good strategic fit with IBM's goal of building out its middleware software offering.

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