Moody's affirms Pfizer

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the ratings of Pfizer Inc., including its Aaa senior unsecured rating, following Pfizer's announcement that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Pfizer Consumer Health business for $16.6 billion and that it may spend up to $17 billion on share purchases during 2006 and 2007.

The outlook is negative.

Moody's said that the affirmation assumes that Pfizer's overall standing according to the criteria outlined in Moody's global pharmaceutical rating methodology will be maintained at least at the Aa1 rating level, adding that it estimates that as of March 31 the equally weighted average of all 15 rating factors in the methodology results in an average rating for Pfizer of Aa1.

The agency also said that Pfizer is likely to maintain three key financial ratios previously outlined by Moody's that are consistent with Pfizer's Aaa rating.

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