Fitch upgrades Arada’s unsecured debt following ‘strong operational performance’
News: 25 July 2023
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Arada’s unsecured debt from ‘BB-‘ to ‘BB’ following an annual review of the master developer’s progress and performance. At the same time, Arada’s sukuk trust certificates were similarly upgraded by Fitch to ‘BB’/RR2 from ‘BB-‘/RR3.
The global ratings agency pointed towards Arada’s ‘strong operational performance’ in the review, which also affirmed the company’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at B+ with a Stable Outlook.
Shimmy Mathew, Group CFO of Arada, said: “We’re delighted to see that our progress over the past year has been rewarded by an upgrade for our unsecured debt. This upgrade reflects a number of positive aspects of our performance, including the strong market demand for our product, steady development progress, geographical expansion and a development model that mitigates risk.”
In 2022, Arada issued its first ever sukuk on the London Stock Exchange, which took place shortly after Fitch and Moody’s assigned the developer first-time credit ratings.
Valued at $500 million, the sukuk was also listed on the Nasdaq Dubai stock exchange in June this year.
In July, Arada reported an exceptional sales performance for the first half of 2023, with the total value of property sold rising 186% to AED4.26 billion.
