Moody's eyes Webster for downgrade

Moody's Investors Service said it placed on review for downgrade all the ratings and assessments of Webster Financial Corp. and Webster Bank, NA, including its Baa1 senior unsecured bond rating. The agency changed the outlook to under review from stable.

“The rating action follows Webster's announcement that it will merge with New York-based Sterling Bancorp in an all-stock transaction. During the review, Moody's will assess the implications of the merger for the existing creditors of Webster, including the associated integration risks from merging two similarly sized institutions with different business profiles,” the agency said in a press release.

Moody’s noted it placed on Webster on downgrade review because the merger is a large undertaking and Sterling is the product of several recent acquisitions.

© 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.