New York, January 13, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") today placed Beam Inc.'s ("Beam") Baa2 Senior Unsecured Rating and Prime-2 Commercial Paper Rating under review direction uncertain following the announcement that Suntory Holdings Limited ("Suntory") (A3, rating under review for downgrade) will acquire Beam for $16 billion. Moody's notes that the purchase price equates to more than a 20x multiple on Beam's EBITDA for the 12 months ended 9/30/13. At this time, it is unclear how Suntory will finance the acquisition, but Moody's expects that a material portion will be with debt. The review will focus on how Beam's bonds are structured post acquisition (if the debt will be legally assumed or guaranteed by Suntory) or if not, if financial information will be made available to monitor Beam's credit worthiness going forward. It will also depend upon the outcome of the review of Suntory's ratings which will focus on the speed at which it will deleverage, any potential synergies, integration risks and the ultimate capital structure after the acquisition. Beam operates in the US, a market in which Suntory historically has had very little presence which means that operational and integration risks could be significant.

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