Moody's rates Willis North America notes Baa3; outlook stable

Moody's Investors Service said it has affirmed the Baa3 rating on the guaranteed senior notes of Willis North America Inc. and has revised the company's outlook to stable from negative.

Moody's said it has also assigned provisional ratings to the universal shelf registration of Willis Group Holdings Ltd. along with a Baa3 rating to the 10-year guaranteed senior notes being offered by Willis North America off the shelf.

Substantially, all net proceeds of the note offering will be used to repay debt that is scheduled to mature within the next 12 months, the agency added.

The outlook for all the Willis entities is stable, reflecting improvement in the firm's financial flexibility over the past year along with its stated plan to reduce debt further, said Moody's.

"The stable outlook is predicated on its view that Willis will continue to apply free cash flow toward debt repayment," said Bruce Ballentine, Moody's lead analyst for Willis.

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