S&P: Wrigley on watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed all its ratings on Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., including its A+ corporate credit and A-1 commercial paper ratings, on CreditWatch with negative implications, meaning that the ratings could either be lowered or affirmed following the completion of its review.

The agency said that the CreditWatch placement follows the announcement that Mars Inc. (unrated) will merge with Wrigley in a partially debt-financed transaction valued at $23 billion.

Funding for the transaction includes $11 billion from Mars, a $5.7 billion committed senior debt facility from Goldman Sachs and $4.4 billion of subordinated debt from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (AAA/stable/A-1+), S&P noted.

Wrigley will become a privately owned, separate, stand-alone subsidiary of Mars and Berkshire Hathaway will make a $2.1 billion minority equity investment in the Wrigley subsidiary at closing, the agency said.

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