Fitch affirms Beckman Coulter

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Beckman Coulter Inc.'s issuer default rating, bank loan and senior unsecured debt at BBB.

The outlook is stable.

Beckman Coulter announced Friday its intention to buy the diagnostic testing assets of Olympus Corp. for ¥77.45 billion, which will be funded by equity and cash. Beckman will seek cash proceeds from a long-term debt issuance and borrowing against its $300 million revolver and $125 million receivables program, or a combination of these.

The agency anticipates that incremental debt used to fund the acquisition will push leverage higher but to a level consistent with the current rating category. Beckman Coulter's leverage has eased considerably since 2006 and stood at 1.48 times at the end of 2008, Fitch said. After fully annualizing the new assets, the agency expects leverage to fall below 2 times in 2010.

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