New York, August 20, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") assigned
an A2 rating to the new senior unsecured note offering of Eli Lilly and
Company ("Lilly"). There are no changes to Lilly's
existing ratings including the A2 senior unsecured long-term rating
and the Prime-1 short-term rating, or the stable outlook.
Proceeds of the offering are for general corporate purposes, which
may include repaying outstanding commercial paper borrowings.
Assignments:
..Issuer: Eli Lilly and Company
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Assigned A2
RATINGS RATIONALE
Lilly's A2 rating reflects its good scale and solid competitive position,
its high profit margins, and its solid cash flow. Rapidly
growing products like Trulicity and Taltz as well as pipeline launches
will help sustain solid top-line growth. The global coronavirus
pandemic will continue to only moderately pressure Lilly's revenue growth,
given good patient access to pharmaceutical products despite shutdowns
and social distancing measures. That said, the pandemic is
delaying many new patients from starting treatment until social distancing
eases. Lilly's sales are somewhat concentrated in diabetes,
which will constitute greater than 50% of sales over the next 12
to 18 months. Lilly's financial policies support moderate financial
leverage, with debt/EBITDA likely sustained in the 2.5x-3.0x
range. However, there is event risk associated with acquisitions.
ESG considerations are material to the rating. Moody's regards
the coronavirus outbreak as a social risk under Moody's ESG framework,
given the substantial implications for public health and safety.
Beyond the coronavirus outbreak, other social risks include exposure
to regulatory and legislative efforts aimed at reducing drug prices.
These are fueled in part by demographic and societal trends that are pressuring
government budgets because of rising healthcare spending. Lilly's
insulin products as well as products with significant Medicare Part D
usage including Trulicity, Taltz and Verzenio have rising exposure
to these risks given proposals aimed at lowering drug costs for seniors.
With respect to governance considerations, Lilly's financial policies
are generally conservative and support modest financial leverage.
Lilly's recent decision to suspend share repurchases is credit positive,
preserving cash to continue making bolt-on acquisitions.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The outlook is stable, reflecting Moody's view that gross debt/EBITDA
will be sustained below 3.0x. Factors that could lead to
an upgrade include rapid uptake in new product launches, major breakthroughs
in R&D pipeline, such as in the Alzheimer's disease area,
and debt/EBITDA sustained below 2.0x.
Factors that could lead to a downgrade include slow growth in new products
or major pipeline setbacks, large debt-financed acquisitions
or share repurchases, or debt/EBITDA sustained above 3.0x.
Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly and Company
("Lilly") is a global pharmaceutical company with strong market positions
in diabetes and oncology. Annual revenues total approximately $22
billion.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Pharmaceutical Industry
published in June 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1062755.
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
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings
issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings
tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
This rating is solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.
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.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Michael Levesque, CFA
Senior Vice President
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Jessica Gladstone, CFA
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
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U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653