New York, May 27, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") today assigned
a Baa1 rating to Stryker Corporation's ("Stryker") proposed
offering of senior unsecured notes. Proceeds from the offering
will be used to fund Stryker's pending $5.4 billion
(including repayment of outstanding convertible debt) acquisition of Wright
Medical Group B.V.("Wright Medical").
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2020.
The company's Baa1 Issuer Rating and Prime-2 Commercial Paper
rating are unchanged. The rating outlook remains negative.
Ratings assigned:
Stryker Corporation
New senior unsecured notes at Baa1
RATINGS RATIONALE
Stryker's Baa1 senior unsecured rating reflects its significant scale
with revenues (pro-forma for Wright Medical) in excess of $15
billion. Stryker benefits from its position as one of the world's
largest orthopedic companies as well as from its strong market positions
in its Medical Surgery and Neurotechnology businesses. Moody's
expects Stryker over time will sustain above-industry-average
organic growth rates benefitting from its leading position in orthopedic
robotics as well as continued international expansion where Stryker is
currently underweight relative to peers. The company's orthopedic
segment is particularly exposed to deferrals of elective procedures in
the current operating environment, however certain parts of Stryker's
business, such as its Medical segment, will likely see higher
demand at least in the near term. Stryker's ratings are constrained
by its high appetite for M&A activity, as the Wright Medical
acquisition follows around $2.5 billion of other M&A
in the last two years.
The negative outlook reflects Moody's expectations there will be a meaningful
decline in elective procedures as healthcare systems focus on the coronavirus
outbreak. Moody's believes that many types of orthopedic procedures,
such as knee and hip replacements, will likely be deferred.
Moody's expects that while near-term volumes will be pressured,
most procedures that were planned will eventually still take place,
and hence the revenue will not be permanently lost. However the
pace of facility reopening's, patient willingness to return
to healthcare providers during the coronavirus outbreak, and the
timing, duration and magnitude of the outbreak remain uncertain.
ESG considerations are material to Stryker's credit profile.
Moody's regards the coronavirus outbreak as a social risk under Moody's
ESG framework, given the substantial implications for public health
and safety. The rapid and widening spread of the coronavirus outbreak,
deteriorating global economic outlook, falling oil prices,
and asset price declines are creating a severe and extensive credit shock
across many sectors, regions and markets. Although the medical
device sector is less exposed from a demand standpoint than other sectors,
the diversion of healthcare resources to treating the outbreak will reduce
demand for some medical device products. In addition, global
supply chains in the medical device are complex, and it is possible
that supply disruptions will cause product delays and affect revenue of
some products.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
Ratings could be upgraded if Stryker demonstrates its ability to successfully
integrate acquisitions while sustaining positive trends in revenues and
earnings. Quantitatively, ratings could be upgraded if debt/EBITDA
is sustained below 2.5 times.
Ratings could be downgraded if Moody's believes the impacts of the coronavirus
will lead to a steep and prolonged decline in demand for elective surgical
procedures. Ratings could be lowered if Moody's expects Stryker
will be unable to restore debt/EBITDA to below 3 times within 12 to 18
months following the close of the Wright Medical acquisition.
Stryker Corporation, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan,
is a global manufacturer of a broad range of medical devices primarily
used in orthopedic and medical surgical markets. These include
endoscopic, instrumentation, and hospital bed product lines.
Pro-forma for the Wright Medical acquisition, revenues exceed
$15 billion.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Medical Product and
Device Industry published in June 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1071635.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
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same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
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issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
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support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
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provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
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and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.
At least one ESG consideration was material to the credit rating action(s)
announced and described above.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
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for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Scott Tuhy
Senior Vice President
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
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Jessica Gladstone, CFA
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
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JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
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