S&P affirms Charles River, loans

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed its corporate credit rating on Charles River Laboratories International Inc. at BBB-. The outlook is stable.

In addition, S&P affirmed its BBB- issue-level rating on the existing $1.3 billion senior secured credit facility, consisting of a $900 million senior secured revolver and a $400 million senior secured term loan A. The company is in process to add on $100 million to the revolver and $250 million to the term loan, as well as extend the maturity of the facility to 2021.

“We are affirming our ratings after consideration of the additional leverage concurrent with the acquisition of WIL Research,” S&P credit analyst Arthur Wong said in a news release.

“We believe Charles River will successfully reduce leverage to below 3x in the next 18-24 months, and view the acquisition as slightly positive from a business perspective, as WIL Research will add to the company's scale, customer mix, and revenue diversity.”

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