Moody's lowers Ingersoll-Rand ratings

The outlook is stable and the company's commercial paper rating remains at "Prime-2," Moody's said.

The downgrade ends a review that began in December after Ingersoll-Rand said it agreed to acquire Trane for an initial price of about $10 billion.

The ratings service said the $4 billion of acquisition debt involved in the deal will erode Ingersoll-Rand's credit metrics and that those metrics will be weak for the "Baa1" rating level into 2009.

Moody's also on Friday affirmed Trane's "Baa3" senior unsecured rating. The outlook is stable.

Ingersoll-Rand shares fell $1.05, or 2.4 percent, to $42.78 in midday trading.