S&P revises eAccess watch to developing

Standard & Poor's said it kept the BB+ long-term corporate credit rating and BB rating on eAccess Ltd. on CreditWatch, but revised the implications to developing from positive.

The action follows the placement on CreditWatch with negative implications of the ratings on Softbank Corp., the potential parent of eAccess, S&P said.

The ratings on eAccess were placed on CreditWatch positive on Oct. 2 following news that eAccess would merge with Softbank by February 2013, the agency said.

It is likely that S&P will equalize the corporate credit rating on eAccess with the corporate credit rating on Softbank, S&P said. If the acquisition by Softbank of Sprint Nextel goes ahead, the agency said it anticipates lowering the rating on Softbank to the BB category.

Accordingly, S&P said it would either keep the rating on eAccess at BB+ or lower it.

In the less likely event that the acquisition of Sprint Nextel does not proceed, S&P said it would likely raise the rating on eAccess to equal that on Softbank, which is currently BBB.

Regardless of the rating level of Softbank, the agency said it maintains that a merger with Softbank is likely to positively impact eAccess' business prospects on a stand-alone basis as eAccess will benefit from utilizing its 1.7 GHz spectrum under the Softbank group.

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