OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'BBB+' issue-level ratings to Houston-based commodity petrochemical producer Westlake Chemical Corp.'s proposed unsecured notes to be issued as part of an exchange offer for Axiall Corp.'s debt. The ratings on the proposed notes were also placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. We based all ratings on the proposed debt on preliminary terms and conditions.

The company announced today an offer to exchange new Westlake notes for nearly $1.138 billion of principal outstanding on existing notes at Axiall Corp. in conjunction with Westlake's planned acquisition of Axiall Corp. All existing ratings on Westlake, including the 'BBB+' corporate credit rating, are unchanged and remain on CreditWatch where we placed them with negative implications on June 13, 2016, following the company's announcement of the proposed acquisition. We will resolve the CreditWatch placement when the transaction closes or earlier when we believe we have sufficient information related to the final capital structure and the company achieves milestones including shareholder approval of the transaction.