Hong Kong, April 11, 2017 -- Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Cheung Kong Property Holdings
Limited's (CKP) A2 issuer rating, as well as the senior unsecured
rating and provisional (P)A2 senior unsecured rating on the guaranteed
medium term note (MTN) program of CK Property Finance (MTN) Limited,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of CKP.
The ratings outlook is stable.
The ratings affirmation follows CKP's announcement on 31 March 2017
that it has entered into an agreement to acquire all the issued and outstanding
common shares of Reliance Intermediate Holdings LP (Ba2 review for upgrade),
through 3216444 Nova Scotia Company (unrated) — an intermediate
holding company — for approximately HKD16.44 billion.
The transaction is subject to the fulfillment of a number of conditions,
including obtaining customary approvals under the Investment Canada Act
and the Competition Act.
RATINGS RATIONALE
"The affirmation of CKP's A2 issuer rating reflects our expectation
that CKP will be prudent in its non-property investments,
maintain property development and investment as its core businesses,
and adopt prudent financial management to keep debt leverage at low levels,"
says Franco Leung, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.
CKP has taken on three non-property businesses since December 2016.
Please refer to Moody's press releases of 6 December 2016 and 17
January 2017 on the previous two investments. The investments in
DUET Group (unrated) and Reliance Intermediate Holdings LP are subject
to approvals from the relevant authorities.
Moody's views CKP as a property company with a solid track record
in Hong Kong (Aa1 negative) and China (Aa3 negative).
The company's three non-property investments are not very
significant in terms of their total assets and revenues. The three
investments amount to around HKD39.7 billion, or about 10%
of CKP's total assets at end-2016, and their pro forma
revenues in 2016 — assuming that they were acquired — represented
11% of CKP's total pro forma revenues in the same year.
Moody's believes that CKP will benefit from additional streams of
relatively stable non-property revenues, if the acquisitions
of DUET and Reliance are completed as planned, because this situation
will improve CKP's business risk and is positive for the company's
issuer rating.
On the other hand, the investments will consume CKP's cash
and increase its debt levels as the acquired entities' debt is consolidated
or adjusted.
At end-2016, CKP's reported sizable cash on hand of
HKD62.6 billion was sufficient to settle the acquisitions of DUET
and Reliance for a total HKD34 billion.
Moody's estimates that CKP's debt leverage — as measured
by net debt/net total capitalization — could temporarily exceed
the rating threshold in 2017, if the acquisitions of DUET and Reliance
are completed in 2017. Such estimates have not considered the possibility
that CKP could sell up to 25% of its stake in Reliance to Cheung
Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited (unrated).
But Moody's expects that CKP will likely consider the impact on
its debt leverage of any future investments over the next 12-18
months.
CKP's A2 issuer rating reflects the strong recurring income from its investment
properties, its strong market position in Hong Kong's property development
market, the diversified character of its property operations,
its good access to the bank and capital markets, and its prudent
approach to financial management.
The A2 rating also reflects the diversified state of the company's property
operations, which includes property development, property
investment, and owning and operating hotels and serviced apartments.
The stable ratings outlook reflects Moody's expectation that CKP will
maintain its prudent approach to financial management, stable income
from its investment properties and hotels, and strong liquidity
position.
Upward pressure on CKP's issuer rating could emerge if CKP:
(1) increases the scale of its stable income streams and its coverage
ratio on interest expenses; and (2) increases its geographic diversification
to reduce its high reliance on the China property market, where
competition is strong and regulatory risk is high.
Downward rating pressure could emerge if the company: (1) changes
its prudent financial management, thereby weakening its strong liquidity
position or low debt leverage position, for example, with
adjusted net debt/net total capitalization exceeding 15%;
(2) disposes of investment properties and/or hotels, such that non-property
development EBIT/interest falls below 3.0x-3.5x;
or (3) undertakes substantial non-property investments that increase
its business and financial risks.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Homebuilding And Property
Development Industry published in April 2015. Please see the Rating
Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this
methodology.
Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited is a leading property developer
in Hong Kong and listed in Hong Kong in June 2015 after the reorganization
of the property businesses of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong
(Holdings) Limited. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited listed in Hong
Kong in 1972.
Reliance Intermediate Holdings LP is principally engaged in the building
equipment services sector providing water heaters, HVAC (heating,
ventilation and air conditioning) equipment, comfort protection
plans and other services to homeowners primarily in Ontario, Canada,
under the consumer brand, "Reliance Home Comfort".
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to
each particular credit rating action for securities that derive their
credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating.
For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory
disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and
in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to
the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction
structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive
rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further
information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the
respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
The first name below is the lead rating analyst for this Credit Rating
and the last name below is the person primarily responsible for approving
this Credit Rating.
Franco Leung
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Hong Kong Ltd.
24/F One Pacific Place
88 Queensway
Hong Kong
China (Hong Kong S.A.R.)
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Gary Lau
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Hong Kong Ltd.
24/F One Pacific Place
88 Queensway
Hong Kong
China (Hong Kong S.A.R.)
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077