Moody's Assigns A3 To Cagamas Global's SGD Senior Unsecured Notes

SINGAPORE, April 12 (Bernama) -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned an A3 rating to Cagamas Global P.L.C.'s Singapore dollar (SGD) denominated senior unsecured notes, due in April 2018. The rating carries a stable outlook, it said in a statement Wednesday. Incorporated in Labuan of east Malaysian state Sabah, Cagamas Global is a wholly-owned unit of Cagamas Bhd, and its principal activity is to carry on the business of fund raising. The A3 rating assigned to the SGD-denominated senior unsecured notes is at the same level as the A3 foreign currency long-term issuer rating of Cagamas. The SGD-denominated senior unsecured notes were issued pursuant to Cagamas Global's US$2.5 billion multicurrency medium-term note (MTN) programme, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Cagamas (A3 stable). The notes represent direct, unsubordinated and unsecured obligations of Cagamas. As such, they rank pari passu with Cagamas' existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated obligations. Moody's said it studied the guarantee provided by Cagamas for the multicurrency MTN programme and concluded that the terms and conditions of the guarantee satisfied the rating agency's core principles of guarantees. These principles are detailed in Moody's special comment titled, "Moody's Identifies Core Principles of Guarantees for Credit Substitution", published on Nov 11, 2010 on www.moodys.com. The A3 rating for the senior unsecured notes would be upgraded if the Malaysian government's A3 sovereign rating was also upgraded, assuming Cagamas' standalone credit metrics remain robust. The rating could be downgraded if the sovereign rating was downgraded; and/or Cagamas' rating was downgraded due to a deterioration in its standalone credit strength, it said. Cagamas' other ratings include local currency long-term/short-term issuer of A3/P-2; and foreign currency long-term/short-term issuer of A3/P-2. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Cagamas reported total assets of US$8 billion (RM35.5 billion) at end-December 2016. --BERNAMA