Fitch: Viacom notes BBB+

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a BBB+ rating to Viacom Inc.'s $500 million senior unsecured note offering.

The proceeds are expected to be used to repay about $193 million of Viacom's 5.75% senior notes maturing April 2011 and for general corporate purposes.

The company has a BBB+ issuer default rating.

The outlook is stable.

The notes will be issued under Viacom's existing indenture and will be pari passu with all existing debt, the agency said.

The transaction is expected to result in a $300 million increase in total debt after the April maturity, Fitch said.

However, total leverage will increase less than 0.1x to 1.8x as a result of the transaction, the agency said.

The ratings reflect Viacom's conservative financial policy and expectations that leverage will remain near the company's target ratio, Fitch said.

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