Moody's Investors Service has today (June 16) assigned a Baa3 long-term issuer rating to Dubai-based real estate developer Emaar Properties and confirmed a stable outlook on all ratings.

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," said 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As part of today's rating action, Moody's has withdrawn Emaar's Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR) and Ba1-PD probability of default rating (PDR), in line with the rating agency's policy for issuers migrating from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. – TradeArabia News Service