UAE - Mubasher: Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has assigned Dubai International Financial Centre Investments (DIFC Investments) a 'Baa3' long-term issuer rating, with a stable outlook.
The rating of DIFC Investments, a private company owned by the Dubai government, reflects the company's high-quality office and retail property portfolio located in a prime area of Dubai, according to a press release on Tuesday.
In addition, the company recorded high occupancy rates at 95% as of June 2020, a strong tenant base including many international financial institutions, and strong liquidity with no debt maturing until 2024.
Moreover, the stable outlook shows the expectation that the occupancy ratio and revenues will stabilise in 2021 at similar levels forecast for 2020.
Moody's Lead Analyst, Lahlou Meksaoui, commented: "DIFCI's investment-grade rating is supported by a good base of recurring income derived from its investment properties and its low senior leverage."
Meksaoui added: "This partially offsets the company's asset and geographic concentration as well as the negative trends on rent and letting activity for the office and retail markets in Dubai."
