Moody’s affirms ESR-REIT

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed ESR-REIT's Baa3 issuer rating.

At the same time, the agency affirmed the provisional Baa3 senior unsecured rating on the S$750 million debt issuance program issued by RBC Investor Services Trust Singapore Ltd. – a co-issuer with ESR-MTN Pte Ltd. – in its capacity as trustee of ESR-REIT.

Moody's also affirmed the Baa3 ratings on the senior unsecured notes drawn down from the program.

ESR-MTN Pte Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESR-REIT.

The outlook on all ratings is stable.

The affirmation follows ESR-REIT's May 18 announcement of its proposed merger with Viva Industrial Trust (VIT), a Singapore-listed stapled trust. Under the proposed transaction, ESR-REIT will acquire VIT's stapled securities for a total purchase consideration of S$1,498,800,000, including S$525 million of debt at VIT.

"The ratings affirmation reflects the meaningful improvement in ESR-REIT's business profile given its larger scale, market share and portfolio diversification following the merger, which provides the trust with greater flexibility to cushion the impact of future bolt-on acquisitions or operating headwinds," Moody's assistant vice president and analyst Rachel Chua said in a news release.

© 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.