S&P Global Ratings assigned a short-term corporate credit rating on Northrop Grumman Corp., but kept the U.S. defense contractor's long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications.
The debt watcher said the short-term rating would remain at A-2 following a potential downgrade of the long-term BBB+ rating due to Northrop's pending debt-funded acquisition of aerospace and defense firm Orbital ATK Inc.
The possible downgrade of the long-term rating to BBB reflects the expected decline in Northrop's credit metrics, with the acquisition resulting in an increased debt burden, according to S&P, which also warned of integration risks.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings. The original S&P Global Ratings documents referred to in this news brief can be found here.
