Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today that it signed a package of loans worth $16.3 billion to help finance its pending $43 billion acquisition of Covidien (NYSE:COV), which is slated to close early next year.

The package includes an $11.3 billion, 364-day bridge loan and a 3-year, unsecured term loan for $5.0 billion, Medtronic said.

The Fridley, Minn.-based company originally planned to use overseas cash to fund the deal, but new U.S. Treasury Dept. rules issued in September prompted it to change the plan to using external debt to finance the deal. Last month the companies said they plan to close the merger in early 2015.

Medtronic also said it signed deals to exit a 364-day, $2.8 billion bridge loan and a 60-day, $13.5 billion bridge loan and raised the limit on a 5-year revolving credit line from $2.25 billion to $3.5 billion.

Medtronic said it hopes to maintain its investment-grade credit rating once the Covidien acquisition closes. Both Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investor Service have said they plan to downgrade Medtronic based on the debt it’s taking on for the deal, but still plan to keep their ratings above junk-bond status.