S&P Global Ratings affirmed its A/A-1 issuer credit rating on French diversified real estate investment trust Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and changed the ratings outlook to negative from stable, largely due to the company's deteriorating operating performance during the first half of 2019.
The rating agency said the REIT's large and globally diverse portfolio has helped it outperform the market so far, but it may not remain immune to structural changes in the retail sector. The agency is of the opinion that Unibail's like-for-like growth, vacancy rates and portfolio valuation could deteriorate and its debt leverage could increase amid the troubled European retail sector.
Ratings said the new outlook indicates that the REIT could be downgraded during the next 24 months if its operating performance or debt leverage weaken beyond the rating agency's expectations.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
