Moody's placed the ratings of IMS Health Inc. under reviewfor upgrade following IMS HealthHoldings Inc.'s announced merger with Quintiles Transnational Holdings.

Moody's said the ratings under review include the IMS's Ba3corporate family rating, Ba3-PD probability of default rating, Ba2 seniorsecured debt ratings and B2 senior unsecured notes ratings. The rating agencyaffirmed IMS's SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating, according to a May 3news release.

Moody's added that it expects the pro forma combined companywill be meaningfully less leveraged, at approximately 4.0x debt-to-EBITDA, thanIMS currently is on a stand-alone basis. The rating agency alsoanticipates the combined entity to benefit from the respective companies'market leadership, unprecedented scale of health care records and analyticalcapabilities and steady mid-sing-digit revenue growth with a subscription-basedmodel that exhibits excellent customer retention and revenue visibility.