MCI Communications Corp, with the prospect of a much stronger balance sheet behind its business following completion of the proposed acquisition by British Telecommunications Plc, saw Standard & Poor’s Corp and Moody’s Investors Service Inc make very encouraging noises about the outlook for its debt. Standard & Poor’s placed the A long-term and A1 short-term ratings of MCI on CreditWatch with positive implications, raising the possibility of an upgrade, while Moody’s was rather more cautious, and only confirmed the ratings of MCI because although the merger could have positive implications for MCI at some point in the future, at this time it is not clear that the benefits would be sufficient to have ratings impact, it asserted. Moody’s also confirmed the A2 senior, A3 subordinated long-term and Prime 1 short-term debt ratings of the Washington long-distance telecommunications firm.
