S&P boosts Aramark ratings; shares up 19% since IPO

Standard & Poor's boosted all of its credit ratings on Aramark Holdings Corp. following the Philadelphia food, facilities, and uniform services company's sale of shares Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The overall corporate rating was raised two notches from B+ to BB, which remains in junk bond territory.

S&P said it expected Aramark, which is now 15 percent owned by public stockholders, to maintain a "more moderate financial profile as a publicly traded company, notwithstanding its majority ownership by a group of private equity firms."

Aramark shares closed Friday up 5 percent, or $1.13, at $23.83. The shares have gained 19 percent since their opening Thursday.

- Harold Brubaker