Exelis acquisition will stretch Harris credit to the limit

Stretched credit will leave little room for error as Harris Corp. acquires Exelis Inc. in a near merger of equals.

Moody’s Investors Services assigned a negative outlook to Harris’ credit rating and downgraded its debt, noting the planned $4.75 billion acquisition, which will be largely funded through $3.6 billion of debt, will “materially weaken Harris’ credit metrics from what had been a relatively conservative financial profile.”

This comes after Moody’s concluded a review of Harris’s…