An announcement by Hilton Hotels Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif., that it plans to acquire the lodging assets of Hilton International for approximately $5.71 billion has prompted Fitch Ratings to place the company's ratings on Rating Watch Negative.The all-cash transaction and the related costs will be funded with $1.2 billion of cash on hand, a new $5.5 billion credit facility, and $130 million of assumed debt, Fitch reported. The rating agency said the resulting credit profile of Hilton Hotels "will be much weaker." Affected by the action are the company's senior unsecured credit facility and senior unsecured notes, rated BBB-minus, and its commercial paper, rated B. The rating agency can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.
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