S&P rates International CCE BBB+

Standard & Poor's said it assigned a BBB+ long-term corporate credit rating to International CCE Inc., and revised the CreditWatch status on Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. to positive.

The ratings were placed on CreditWatch with negative implications in February after the company's joint announcement with the Coca-Cola Co. that Coke would acquire CCE's North American bottling operations and International CCE would expand its bottling territories in Western Europe with the acquisition of Coke's Norway and Sweden bottling operations, S&P said.

The rating reflects a view of the company's importance to Coke's global beverage distribution network because it will be the third-largest global Coke bottler in terms of volume pro forma for the proposed transactions, the agency said.

But the company's expected aggressive stand-alone financial profile and exclusive exposure to its mature Western European territories temper these factors, the agency said.

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