Moody's upgrades Aldar CFR, bonds

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the corporate family rating and probability of default rating of Aldar Properties PJSC by three notches to Ba1 and Ba1-PD from B1 and B1-PD, respectively.

Concurrently, the agency upgraded the $1.25 billion of bonds due 2014 issued by Atlantic Finance Ltd. and unconditionally guaranteed by Aldar by three notches to Ba2 from B2.

The outlook is positive.

This concludes the review initiated on Jan. 22, 2013 following the announcement that Aldar and Sorouh Properties PJSC would merge. Moody's subsequently maintained the review after upgrading the corporate family rating to B1 on July 1.

"We have upgraded Aldar's ratings by three notches as a result of the company completing its merger with Sorouh. The merger was transformational in nature as it added material recurring rental income from residential properties and created the leading Abu Dhabi real estate player with a large land bank and a sizable investment property portfolio. There is increased visibility regarding the combined entity's transactions with the government of Abu Dhabi, as well as in terms of its project pipeline and cash flow projections," Martin Kohlhase, Moody's senior analyst and local market analyst for Aldar, said in a news release.

"Aldar has a significantly improved risk profile as a result of increased visibility. Contracted transactions between the Abu Dhabi government and the company are planned to run until 2017, amounting to around AED9.1 billion, or $2.5 billion."

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.