The world's largest food conglomerate, Nestle SA, announced it has more than 5 billion Swiss Francs or US$5.2 billion available to spend on acquisitions and investments under the latest Standard & Poor's rating it had just received on its credit.
While acquisitions through debt financing may dent its current AA long term debt rating, the Vevey, Switzerland based can still acquire more than the budget its said. One of the transactions in progress is the pending purchase of DiGiorno Pizza.
According to Standard & Poor's, Nestle is 'highly cash-generative' with a 'conservative financial policy'. WIth these factors, the credit ratings agency has placed the outlook for the conglomerate's debt rating to be stable in the long term.
The company, which also manufactures Nescafe instant soluble coffee had purchased the baby food business of another giant, pharmaceutical firm Pfizer Inc. That purchase was worth US$11.9 billion.
Under the S&P scale, AA is the third highest credit rating attainable. On the other hand, rival Moody's Investor's Service places Nestle debt rating at Aa2.
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