Baa3 rating for Emaar Properties

Manama : Moody’s Investors Service yesterday assigned a Baa3 long-term issuer rating to Emaar Properties PJSC. 

Concurrently, Moody’s has upgraded the rating of the company’s senior unsecured $2 billion trust certificate programme established under Emaar Sukuk Limited to (P)Baa3 from (P)Ba1 and upgraded the ratings on Emaar Sukuk Limited’s two $500 million senior unsecured sukuk issued under the programme to Baa3 from Ba1. The outlook on all ratings is stable.

“The upgrade of Emaar’s ratings to investment grade is in recognition of its strong credit metrics and business resilience at a time when the macroeconomic environment remains weak,” says Rehan Akbar, a Moody’s Assistant Vice President -- Analyst. 

“We believe that Emaar’s market leadership position and balance sheet strength -- in combination with stable recurring revenues and a sizeable property sales backlog -- will support the company’s credit profile during the currently challenging market conditions and as it enters a phase of elevated capex ahead of the Dubai World Expo 2020.”

As part of today’s rating action, Moody’s has withdrawn Emaar’s Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR) and Ba1- PD probability of default rating (PDR), in line with the rating agency’s policy for issuers migrating from noninvestment grade to investment grade.

Emirates NBD upgraded

Moody’s Investors Service also upgraded Emirates NBD PJSC’s (ENBD) long- term deposit and senior unsecured ratings to A3 from Baa1. Concurrently, the rating agency affirmed the bank’s Prime-2 short-term deposit ratings. The outlook on the long-term ratings is stable.

The upgrade of ENBD’s BCA reflects the bank’s improved and resilient financial profile, primarily (1) improved asset quality that we expect to remain stable despite slowing economic growth in a low oil price environment; (2) stronger loss-absorption buffers coupled with resilient profitability and (3) strong funding and liquidity, despite a slowing economic environment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stemming from lower oil prices.

The primary driver for the upgrade of the BCA to ba1 from ba2 is the material improvement in recent years of the bank’s asset quality metrics which Moody’s expects will stabilise in the next 12 to 18 months.