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S&P Places Albemarle (ALB) Ratings on CreditWatch Negative Following Rockwood (ROC) Deal

July 16, 2014 6:20 AM EDT

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it placed all its ratings, including its 'BBB+' long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings, on Baton Rouge, La.-based Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The CreditWatch placement follows the announcement of Albemarle's plans to acquire Rockwood (NYSE: ROC). We expect the transaction to close in early 2015, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. We believe the weakening of credit measures more than offsets the improvements in the business and should lead to a 'BBB-' corporate credit rating following the closing of this large acquisition.

"We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement by lowering the ratings on Albemarle once the acquisition is completed, likely in early 2015," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Seamus Ryan.



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