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TEXT-S&P assigns AT&T notes 'A-' rating
May 22 () - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned
its 'A-' issue-level rating to Dallas-based AT&T Inc.'s proposed senior
unsecured notes (undetermined amount but denominated in Pound Sterling) due
2044. We expect the company to use net proceeds for general corporate purposes,
and we do not expect this transaction to materially impact key credit measures
for more than a temporary period.
The 'A-' long-term corporate credit rating on AT&T remains unchanged, as do
the 'A-2' short-term rating and the stable rating outlook. The ratings on AT&T
continue to reflect an overall "strong" business risk profile and a financial
risk profile which Standard & Poor's considers "intermediate" (as defined in
our criteria), recognizing the company's substantial free operating cash flow
generation and adjusted leverage of about 2.6x as of March 31, 2012. Our
business risk assessment is based on the combined impact of a strong and
growing wireless business, with a wireline segment that we view as having a
weaker, but still satisfactory, business risk profile. (For the complete
corporate credit rating rationale, see the summary analysis on AT&T, published
Jan. 17, 2012, on RatingsDirect.)
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RATINGS LIST
AT&T Inc.
Corporate Credit Rating A-/Stable/A-2
New Rating
AT&T Inc.
Senior Unsecured Notes due 2044 A-
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on
the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. All ratings affected
by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at
www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left
column.
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