S&PGlobal Ratings affirmed Swire PacificLtd.'s A- long-term corporate credit rating and its guaranteed senior unsecured notes, with astable outlook.

The ratingagency also affirmed Swire Pacific's cnAA long-term Greater China regional scale rating, BBB issue ratingand cnA Greater China regional scale rating on subordinated perpetual capital securitiesguaranteed by the company.

The affirmedratings reflect S&P's belief that the company will offset a "material"decrease in its marine-services business' operating performance through "significant"rental income and diversified operations.

In addition,the rating agency expects Swire Pacific to maintain a "prudent" financialmanagement strategy for limiting the use of debt for expansion, and to remain keenon selling noncore assets to counter increasing financial leverage.

SwirePacific's leverage is expected to weaken over the next 12 months to 24 months, accordingto S&P. Its debt-to-EBITDA ratio will likely increase to 4.3x in 2016 and 4.5xin 2017, before a slight recovery in 2018.

The stableoutlook reflects S&P's expectation of the company's resilient earnings acrossdifferent operations, with "stable rental income, growing beverages incomeand higher dividends" likely to counter the weak performance of some businesssegments, including hotels.

S&P Global Ratings and S&PGlobal Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.