S&P: Bowne unaffected

Standard & Poor's said that Bowne & Co. Inc.'s (B+/stable) announcement that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Bowne Global Solutions to Lionbridge Technologies Inc. would have no effect on the company's ratings or outlook.

The company expects to receive gross proceeds of at least $180 million, consisting of $130 million in cash and 9.4 million shares of Lionbridge common stock, the agency said.

It is S&P's expectation that a substantial portion of the proceeds will be used to fund future acquisitions or will be returned to shareholders through either share repurchases and/or increased dividends.

This transaction, which follows Bowne's sale of its document outsourcing services business in October 2004 for $150 million in net proceeds, will further narrow the company's business diversity, S&P said.

Offsetting this somewhat, S&P said it expects Bowne's credit measures to remain adequate for the ratings over the business cycle, notwithstanding the cyclicality associated with transactional financial printing, given good levels of debt repayment in 2004.

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