Moody's rates Pfizer Investment notes Aaa

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Aaa/Prime-1 rating to the Pfizer Investment's $1 billion extendible note offering.

Moody's also affirmed the Aaa/Prime-1 ratings of Pfizer Inc., the Prime-1 rating of Pfizer Investment Capital plc, the Aaa senior note rating of Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia Corp.'s Aaa notes, medium-term notes and industrial revenue bonds.

Pfizer's outlook is negative. Pfizer Investment's outlook is stable.

Proceeds will help facilitate Pfizer's plan to repatriate about $36.7 billion of foreign earnings strategy under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

The affirmation of Pfizer's Aaa/Prime-1 ratings reflects Moody's belief that Pfizer is well positioned to maintain financial flexibility consistent with the Aaa rating category, significant flexibility with respect to discretionary share repurchases and Pfizer's very strong new product pipeline.

The strength of Pfizer's late-stage pipeline is a key differentiating factor compared to most other rated pharmaceutical companies, Moody's said, and helps to offset concerns regarding Pfizer's high exposure to upcoming patent expirations.

The outlook on Pfizer Inc. is negative, however, due to concerns that disappointing product sales, potentially unfavorable outcomes of Lipitor patent litigation with Ranbaxy or a shift toward more aggressive acquisitions or share repurchases may cause Pfizer's metrics to fall below these ranges.

© 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.