S&P drops General Growth

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit rating on General Growth Properties Inc. to BB+ from BBB-.

At the same time, the agency said it lowered its ratings on roughly $5 billion of the company's unsecured debt to BB- from BB+, in accordance with our current notching policies, which consider the effect of elevated secured debt levels within a REIT's capital structure.

The outlook remains negative.

According to S&P, the downgrades reflect General Growth's weakened financial profile, given the company's lower-than-anticipated total debt and dividend coverage metrics as well as fairly significant refinancing and development funding needs over the next few years.

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