Moody’s downgrades AstraZeneca to A3

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the long-term senior unsecured ratings of AstraZeneca plc and its subsidiary Zeneca Wilmington Inc. to A3/provisional A3 from A2/provisional A2.

The agency also downgraded the company's short-term rating to P-2 from P-1.

The outlook on all ratings is stable.

"The downgrade is driven by our expectation of a further deterioration in AstraZeneca's credit metrics following the group's announcement of its agreement to purchase a 55% equity stake in Acerta Pharma for a total consideration of $4 billion, with $2.5 billion upfront and $1.5 billion in unconditional deferred payment," Stanislas Duquesnoy, Moody's vice president, senior credit officer and lead analyst for AstraZeneca, said in a news release.

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