S&P rates Mars notes A

S&P said it assigned an A issuer credit rating to Mars Inc. and an A rating to the company's proposed 144A notes.

The agency said it would discontinue the A issuer credit rating on Mars subsidiary, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and affirmed its A issue-level rating on its existing 144A notes.

Mars is launching its first 144A note issuance to repay existing debt in a leverage-neutral transaction, S&P explained.

The company's pro forma leverage was about 2.8x as of December 2018, the agency said.

The stable outlook reflects an expectation that Mars will maintain adjusted leverage in the 2x to 3x range over the next 12- to 24-months as it prioritizes repaying debt and combining its Wrigley confectionary and Mars chocolate businesses over undertaking large-scale mergers and acquisitions, S&P said.

The ratings reflect Mars' significant scale with about $40 billion in annual revenue. The company's diversified product portfolio includes nine brands that generate more than $1 billion in annual sales for its pet care and confectionary segments, the agency said.

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