Moody's upgraded Gecina's long-term issuer and senior unsecured domestic currency bond ratings to A3 from Baa1, and also revised the provisional rating of its medium term note program to (P)A3 from (P)Baa1.

The rating agency said the upgrade came as a result of expectations that the REIT's gross debt-to-total asset ratio will remain at approximately 35% in the next two years, supported by a slight upswing in the rental market.

Additionally, Moody's upgrade recognized the REIT's significantly improved EBITDA-to-interest coverage ratio, which stood at 4.8x as of July.

Moody's also added that it saw acquisition risks by Gecina as lower after a takeover attempt of Foncière de Paris had proven unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the rating agency kept its outlook for the REIT stable, citing the likelihood of little change in its key debt metrics for the next two years and its maintenance of an unimpeded balance sheet.