KIPCO – First Time Issuer Ratings Assigned

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has assigned a first time Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) of ‘BB+’ and ‘B’, respectively, to the parent company of the KIPCO Group. The Outlook on the ratings is Stable.

The parent company has a solid management team with the ability to improve performance at the operating companies’ level. The debt structure has been improved with 44% having a maturity of over 3 years. Funding is from a mixture of bank lines, Sukuk and DCM issues. The controlling shareholder has been supportive of a number of rights issues in recent years and in providing other forms of effective capital support. These factors support the rating.

The main portfolio companies have at least satisfactory financial strength metrics, with both EQUATE and SADAFCO being market leaders in their respective fields. However the value of these two holdings plus that of Burgan Bank…