United Real Estate – Issue Rating of ‘BBB-’ Assigned to Senior Unsecured Bond (up to KWD80mn)

8 March 2023

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has assigned a first-time rating of ‘BBB-’ to the Senior Unsecured Bond (up to KWD80mn comprising a Fixed Rate Tranche and a Floating Rate Tranche) to be issued by United Real Estate Company (URC). The Outlook for the rating is Stable.

The key driver for the rating is the ownership of URC by Kuwait Projects Company Holding K.S.C. (KIPCO), one of the largest holding companies in the MENA region, with significant ownership interests in over 60 companies operating across 24 countries. URC is an integral part of KIPCO as the main real estate arm. The Group’s support continued to be demonstrated via funding and liquidity. Historically KIPCO had also provided capital injections, albeit that these have been modest.

Other drivers for the rating include URC’s continued ability to refinance and raise new funding on an unsecured basis (standalone basis rather than URC Group level) and a good…