Mubasher: Standard and Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the credit rating of Kuwait Projects Holding (KIPCO) to ‘BB+’ from ‘BBB-’, with a ‘Negative’ outlook.
KIPCO’s short-term issue credit rating was lowered to ‘B’ from ‘A-3’ due to a higher loan to value (LTV) ratio above the rating agency threshold following the global equity market sell-off driven by the coronavirus (COVID-19), according to a bourse filing on Wednesday.
S&P further applied a higher haircut on the value of two of the group’s key assets, namely OSN and United Gulf Holding (UGH).
“The former due to uncertainties over the financial performance and the sale process of KIPCO’s stake in OSN and the latter owing to a non-active trading of its shares,” the statement said.
The agency also believes that KIPCO manages its liquidity proactively and has no debt maturity until 2023, except for the $500 million due in July 2020.
