{"id":285433,"date":"2010-02-05T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-06T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087194156628161158.post-1557355687764256718"},"modified":"2010-02-05T23:04:07","modified_gmt":"2010-02-06T04:04:07","slug":"businessweek-sp-rates-berkshire-hathaways-8b-in-notes-aa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/285433","title":{"rendered":"BUSINESSWEEK: S&P rates Berkshire Hathaway’s $8B in notes ‘AA+’"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/p>\n

<\/span>The Associated Press<\/span> February 5, 2010, 4:50PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday placed an “AA+” rating on $8 billion of notes issued by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.<\/p>\n

The rating is the next to the highest long-term credit rating S&P offers.<\/p>\n

The notes issued Thursday will be used to help Warren Buffett’s investment company buy the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corp. in a cash and stock deal valued at $26.3 billion. Berkshire Hathaway already owns 22 percent of the stock.<\/p>\n

The acquisition of the nation’s second-largest railroad would be the biggest ever for Omaha, Neb., based Berkshire.<\/p>\n

Shareholders of BNSF are scheduled to vote on the proposed acquisition Feb. 11. The deal is expected to close by Feb. 15.<\/p>\n

The notes will be sold in a series of three floating-rate and three-fixed rate issuances. Maturity dates range from 2011 to 2015.<\/p>\n

Standard & Poor’s lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating on the company to “AA+” from “AAA” on Thursday and removed the rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed with negative implications on Nov. 4, 2009.<\/p>\n

S&P said it expects a significant part of the cash portion of the acquisitions costs to come from Berkshire Hathaway’s core insurance operations, which will reduce their liquidity.<\/p>\n

S&P said Berkshire’s financial flexibility remains extremely strong.<\/p>\n

The downgrade left just four U.S. industrial companies with S&P’s “AAA” rating: Microsoft Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Automatic Data Processing Inc. More than a dozen U.S. financial institutions, including the Knights of Columbus and New York Life Insurance Co., hold the highest designation.<\/p>\n

Berkshire’s class B shares rose 96 cents, or 1.3 percent, closing at $73.57. They gained another 3 cents in aftermarket trading.<\/p>\n

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