Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on April 1 affirmed 's corporatecredit rating at B+ and changed its outlook to positive from stable.

The rating agency also assigned a B+ corporate credit ratingwith a positive outlook to MGM Growth Properties LLC, the company's .

S&P said in a note that the revised outlook takes into accountits belief that MGM Resorts' Las Vegas and U.S. regional gaming assets will sustain"strong" performance amid "sizable" capital spending needs in2016 to complete the company's NationalHarbor and Cotai developmentprojects.

The rating agency added that it expects MGM Resorts to improveits debt-to-EBITDA to below 5.5x, FFO-to-debt to about 12% and EBITDA interest coverageto around 3x in 2017, thresholds at which S&P said it would upgrade ratingsby a notch.

MGM Resorts in March announced that a venture led by InvescoReal Estate and Simon Property GroupInc. is paying roughly $1.1 billion to acquire its Las Vegas luxury retail asset called The Shopsat Crystals.

S&P Ratings and S&PGlobal Market Intelligence are owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc.