Moody's rates CBS notes Baa3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 rating to CBS Corp.'s new notes, which are anticipated to be split between five- and ten-year maturities for a total of $500 million to $1 billion.

The outlook is stable.

The proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including helping to fund 2010 maturities.

The agency said the offering fills a very important hole in the company's liquidity profile given that it has a large $1.2 billion maturity in 2010, cyclically weakened free cash flow generation and a year-end 2010 maturity of its committed external liquidity source, its bank revolving credit facility.

Moody's added that CBS' ratings and outlook are unaffected at this time by the company's weaker first-quarter operating performance. The agency believes CBS will take actions to streamline its cost structure, control discretionary spending and maintain a healthy balance sheet and liquidity over the next 12 to 18 months in order to weather the current economic downturn.

The debt-to-EBITDA ratio was about 4.2 times at March 31.

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