TEXT-S&P rates DaVita proposed senior notes B

Aug 14 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned
ratings to the proposed $1 billion senior notes due 2022 to be issued by DaVita
Inc., a Denver-based dialysis service provider. We rate the notes
'B', two notches below the corporate credit rating, with a recovery rating of
'6', indicating our expectation for
negligible (0 to 10%) recovery of principal in the event of payment default.
DaVita intends to use the proceeds to fund a portion of its acquisition of
Torrance, Calif.-based HealthCare Partners Holdings LLC (HCP), parent of
HealthCare Partners LLC (BBB-/Watch Neg/--).

Our 'BB-' corporate credit rating and stable rating outlook on DaVita are not
affected by this issuance. Our rating reflects DaVita's "aggressive" financial
risk profile (according to our criteria), distinguished by robust
discretionary cash flow, which will enable fairly rapid deleveraging following
its acquisition of HCP. We estimate pro forma adjusted debt to EBITDA is about
4.5x, compared with DaVita's actual adjusted leverage of 3.5x as of June 30,
2012. We believe DaVita's acquisition of HCP does not alter its "fair"
business risk profile, because DaVita will remain substantially dependent on
the treatment of a single disease and its exposure to potential adverse
changes in reimbursement may be compounded by the addition of HCP to its
business portfolio. (For the latest complete corporate credit rating
rationale, see Standard & Poor's research update on DaVita, published July 27,
2012, on RatingsDirect.)

RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
-- Credit FAQ: How Standard & Poor's Evaluates U.S. Health Care Service
Companies That Invest In Joint Ventures, Oct. 20, 2011
-- Methodology And Assumptions: Liquidity Descriptors For Global
Corporate Issuers, Sept. 28, 2011
-- Business Risk/Financial Risk Matrix Expanded, May 27, 2009
-- 2008 Corporate Criteria: Analytical Methodology, April 15, 2008
-- 2008 Corporate Criteria: Rating Each Issue, April 15, 2008

RATING LIST
DaVita Inc.

Corporate credit rating BB-/Stable/--

Rating Assigned
Proposed $1 bil. sr. notes due 2022 B
Recovery rating 6