Wesfarmers has denied that it’s under pressure from international credit markets to sell assets to refinance $4 billion debt used in its purchase of Coles.
 
Commenting on a report in the Sydney Morning Herald last week, spokesman Robert Swinton said most of the company’s business is in Australia and is not as exposed as other insurers to the global credit crunch.
 
“The Coles acquisition doesn’t affect us at all from an insurance perspective,” he said. “Debt isn’t really much of an issue.”