OREANDA-NEWS. Air Liquide SA's five-year Credit Default Swaps (CDS) have widened 14% over the past week to price at the widest level observed in three years, according to Fitch Solutions in its latest CDS Case Study Snapshot.

After pricing consistently at 'AA' levels for much of the past year, CDS on Air Liquide have widened 33% over the course of the month and are now pricing in-line with 'AA-' levels.

"Soured market sentiment for the French specialty gas company appears to be attributed to the announcement that Air Liquide will buy Airgas for more than $13 billion, which will increase Air Liquide's debt profile," said Diana Allmendinger, Director, Fitch Solutions.

Fitch Solutions case studies build on data from its CDS Pricing Service and proprietary quantitative models, including CDS Implied Ratings. These credit risk indicators are designed to provide real-time, market-based views of creditworthiness. As such, they can and often do reflect more short term market views on factors such as currencies, seasonal market effects and short-term technical influences. This is in contrast to Fitch Ratings' Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs), which are based on forward-looking fundamental credit analysis over an extended period of time.