Albertsons’ Credit Rating Cut to Junk

Albertsons Inc., the supermarket chain being sold for about $9.8 billion, had its credit rating cut three levels to junk by Moody’s Investors Service because the company is being split.

Albertsons’ senior unsecured long-term rating was cut to Ba3 from Baa3 and the short-term to Not Prime from Prime-3.

Supervalu Inc. agreed to buy more than 1,110 Albertsons stores in January. As part of the sale, CVS Corp. is acquiring all of Albertsons’ stand-alone drugstores and Cerberus Capital Management and Kimco Realty Corp. are buying 655 grocery stores.

Moody’s said it expected Supervalu would increase its borrowings and “face significant challenges.”