This occurs frequently in such takeover situations due to the integration risks, the impact of an acquisition on the acquiror's capital position and the inherent uncertainties surrounding refinancing in capital markets.
Helvetia is confident that all these risks will be minimized and will be resolved to Standard & Poor's satisfaction. This action is not expected to have any effect on our ability to refinance the transaction in the capital markets.
In what we consider to be the very unlikely case of a downgrade from Standard & Poors, the lowering of the rating expected to be limited to one notch. Consequently the rating is expected, as we communicated in our press and analysts' conference on 7 July 2014, to be maintained in the overall «A»range.
This media release is also available on the home page
www.helvetia.com/media.
