Overview -- U.S.-based footwear company Wolverine World Wide Inc. is in the process of acquiring Performance and Lifestyle Group (PLG) from Collective Brands Inc. -- Wolverine will finance the roughly $1.23 billion transaction with new debt issuance, including the proposed $1.1 billion of senior secured credit facility. -- We are assigning our preliminary 'BB-' corporate credit rating to Wolverine, and our preliminary 'BB' issue rating on the proposed senior secure