Moody's: AstraZeneca negative

Moody's Investors Service said it changed the outlook on the A1 long-term senior unsecured ratings of AstraZeneca plc and its guaranteed subsidiaries to negative from stable.

The agency said this action follows the announcement that AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will extend their alliance on diabetes products through the acquisition of Amylin Pharmaceuticals for a total consideration of $7 billion, resulting in a cash outflow for AstraZeneca of $3.4 billion.

"The change in outlook to negative reflects a weakening in AstraZeneca's positioning within its rating category due to the combination of, firstly, pressure on the company's revenues and profits related to major patent expiries; secondly, the pursuit of relatively large share buybacks; and thirdly, the impact of recently announced transactions - in particular, the transaction on Amylin - on the group's financial profile," said Marie Fischer-Sabatie, a Moody's vice president - senior credit officer and lead analyst for AstraZeneca, in a news release.

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