Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the Baa1 long term and Prime-2 short term issuer ratings of Kuwait Projects Company Holding K.S.C. (KIPCO). However, it changed its outlook to negative from stable, reflecting deterioration in the credit quality of some of its core subsidiaries. In a statement issued on Thursday, Moody's said it has also assigned Baa1 / Prime-2 ratings to KIPCO's existing $2 billion European Medium Term Note (EMTN) Program. The outlook is also negative. “KIPCO has responded well to a challenging global and local market environment by strengthening liquidity and actively managing leverage in support of credit metrics”, said Philipp Lotter, Dubai-based senior vice president at Moody's and lead analyst for KIPCO. “However, KIPCO exhibits high concentration of dividend income from three subsidiaries which engage in banking and insurance activities. Our negative outlook reflects a moderately weaker credit trend at two of these subsidiaries.”
