Fitch places Oracle on negative watch

Fitch Ratings said it placed Oracle Corp.'s ratings on Rating Watch negative, including the BBB+ long-term issuer default rating and unsecured debt, and the F1 short-term IDR and commercial paper.

The Rating Watch follows the company's announced agreement to acquire Cerner Corp.

“Fitch expects the transaction to increase leverage at the time of closing. The potential rating outcome ranges from single-notch to multi-notch downgrades as the leveraging transaction deviates from Fitch's previous expectations of debt reduction,” the agency said in a news release.

On Dec. 20, Oracle announced an agreement to acquire Cerner in an all-cash tender offer, valuing the company's equity at $28.3 billion. Cerner also has approximately $1.8 billion debt outstanding.

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