S&P rates Priceline.com, notes BBB-

Standard & Poor's said it withdrew its unsolicited ratings on Priceline.com Inc., and assigned a BBB- corporate credit rating to the company on a solicited basis, incorporating additional information that the company shared with the agency. S&P also said it assigned Priceline.com's 1¼% convertible senior notes due 2015 a BBB- rating.

The outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect an expectation that Priceline.com will be able to maintain its market-leading position in European hotel reservation services, grow its presence in Asia and sustain its modest financial risk policy by

keeping debt leverage below 2x, S&P said.

Because of its good positioning, the company's growth rate decelerated slightly during the recent recession while some of its peers were experiencing revenue declines, the agency said.

With the global economy on sounder footing, the agency said it expects that revenue and EBITDA growth in 2010 will be very healthy and that profitability measures should remain consistently strong.

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