S&P Rates Executive Jet's $750M Cmrcl Paper `A-1+'.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's Aug. 28, 2000-- Standard & Poor's today assigned its 'A-1'-plus rating to Executive Jet Inc.'s (EJI EJI Edward Jones Investments ) $750 million commercial paper program, which is fully and unconditionally guaranteed Unconditionally Guaranteed is the eighth LP by Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, originally released in 1974. Upon release it was criticised for being too commercial, however it failed to give Beefheart any real chart success and peaked at #192 on the Billboard by EJI's parent, Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB) is a conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies. Inc. (triple-'A' senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. rating). Proceeds from the program are expected to be used for general corporate purposes and partial repayment of existing debt. Back-up liquidity will be provided by the combination of a bank credit line and the available and more-than-ample assets at Berkshire Hathaway and its wholly owned subsidiaries Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. . EJI, which was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in August 1998, is the world's largest provider of fractional ownership programs for general aviation aircraft. The company generates revenue in excess of $1.2 billion and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become of more than $75 million. EJI generates its revenue and earnings primarily by selling fractional aircraft interests and managing flight operations. EJI has more than 1,800 customers, 225 aircraft, and a market share of more than 60% of the fractional jet ownership market. Standard & Poor's ratings on EJI's commercial paper program and its guarantor, Berkshire Hathaway, reflect the unquestioned financial flexibility of the Berkshire Hathaway group of companies. The ratings also reflect the group's very strong business and earnings diversification as well as a capital base that is more than supportive of the organization's risk profile. With more than $56 billion of equity and $134 billion of consolidated assets, Berkshire Hathaway operates across a wide spectrum of industry segments, including property/casualty insurance, which is the group's largest revenue provider, Standard & Poor's said. --CreditWire |
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