Unilever risks sacrificing its top-tier credit rating if it proceeds with a fresh bid for GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer health division for more than ￡50bn, rating agency Fitch warned on Tuesday.
Unilever, currently rated A with a “stable” outlook, could face a downgrade to BBB, the lowest investment grade rating, said Fitch, adding to a growing backlash against the potential deal and Alan Jope, the consumer goods group’s chief executive.
Fitch said the purchase of the GSK division or “any other large target” would probably increase Unilever’s debt to a point where it would struggle to cut borrowing to levels in keeping with an A rating in the next three years.
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