S&P: USI on developing watch

S&P said it placed all of the ratings, including the B long-term corporate credit rating, on USI Inc. on CreditWatch with developing implications.

The CreditWatch placement follows news that USI entered into a stock purchase agreement with Wells Fargo & Co. to purchase Wells Fargo Insurances Services USA, the agency said.

USI expects to fund the acquisition with proceeds from an incremental term loan and preferred stock, but details have not yet been disclosed, S&P said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, the agency said.

The deal, if consummated, could meaningfully bolster USI's scale in a still highly fragmented insurance brokerage marketplace, S&P said.

The CreditWatch placement also reflects the currently limited information known about the details of the transaction and the resultant uncertainty about its effect on USI's business risk profile, capital structure, cash flows and credit protection measures, the agency said.

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