S&P affirms Thomson Reuters' rating, raises Reuters

NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Thursday affirmed its rating on Thomson Reuters Corp, citing an improved business risk profile after the former Thomson Corp acquired Reuters Group for more than $16 billion in cash and stock.

Thomson Reuters Corp(TRI.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) (TRI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (TRIL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (TRIN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) debuted on Thursday as a top global information company, hoping a portfolio of products from financial to legal and health care will help it ride out a financial industry downturn. For details click on [ID:nL17672779].

S&P affirmed Thomson Reuters' rating at "A-minus," the seventh-highest investment grade, and raised its rating on Reuters Group by one notch to the same level. The ratings were equalized because of cross-guarantees in place between the companies, S&P said.

The outlook on both companies is negative, indicating a rating downgrade is likely over the next two years.

Key concerns include weakened credit protection measures because of higher leverage resulting from the Reuters acquisition and integration risk, S&P said.

"We could downgrade Thomson Reuters in the near-to-medium term if the company is unable to return key credit measures back to historical levels or if it faces significant difficulties integrating Reuters," S&P added.

The outlook could be changed to stable if Thomson Reuters successfully integrates Reuters and improves its debt leverage and cash flow measures back to historical levels in the next few years, S&P said.

The credit rating agency said it expects Thomson Reuters to effectively manage the integration process.

"Reuters will meaningfully increase Thomson Reuters' scale and geographic footprint in the electronic media segment as the company now operates in 93 countries," S&P said. "Furthermore, management estimates opportunities for synergies that should total an annual run rate of more than US$500 million within three years."

(Reporting by Dena Aubin)