Fitch affirms ITT

Fitch Ratings has affirmed ITT Corp.'s long- and short-term ratings at A-/F2, respectively. About $1.4 billion of debt is affected by the ratings. The ratings affirmed include its issuer default rating at A-, senior unsecured bank facilities at A-, senior unsecured debt at A-, short-term issuer default rating at F2 and commercial paper at F2.

The outlook is stable.

ITT agreed this week to acquire EDO Corp. for about $1.7 billion in cash, including assumed debt. ITT will incur a significant amount of debt to fund the transaction, leading to an expected increase in leverage that Fitch said it considers weak for the ratings.

However, the impact will be mitigated by more than $1 billion of cash on ITT's balance sheet that can be used for the acquisition, the agency said.

Fitch said its other rating concerns include integration risks and the $395 million acquisition of International Motion Control that was recently completed.

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