ConAgra Foods (CAG) Ratings Put on CreditWatch Developing by S&P Following Divestiture Plans

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services placed all its ratings, including its 'BBB-' corporate credit rating, on ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) on CreditWatch with developing implications, meaning that we could lower, raise, or affirm our ratings following the completion of our review.

"We will resolve the CreditWatch listing following our review of the financial and business impact of the announced divestiture, including the use of proceeds, capital allocation plans, and strategy for the company's remaining assets," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Bea Chiem.

Upon completion of our review, we could lower the ratings if we lower our assessment of the company's business risk profile or the company's financial risk profile weakens because of more aggressive shareholder policies or divestment of a material portion of its branded business. Alternatively, we could raise the ratings if the company applies sale proceeds to debt reduction and demonstrates a plan that will likely improve our assessment of the company's business or financial risk profile, including a financial policy consistent with a higher rating. We could affirm the ratings if pro forma credit protection measures are likely to remain near current levels during the next two years, including leverage between 3x and 4x, and we do not revise our business risk assessment.

We estimate that ConAgra had roughly $7.9 billion of reported debt outstanding as of May 31, 2015.

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