News From : DagangHalal.com (09 Jun 2010)
KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 (Bernama) — Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) has assigned a AA-ID rating on toll road concessionaire, Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd’s (MESB), proposed RM550 million Islamic Medium Term Notes (IMTN) issuance programme.
The programme is under the Shariah principle of Musyarakah in which the rating outlook is seen as stable.
In a statement here Wednesday, MARC said the assigned rating incorporates the strong debt servicing coverage under the IMTN programme attributable to the favourable repayment structure, and satisfactory tolling operation.
“Part of the proceeds from the IMTN will be utilised to redeem in full MESB’s existing outstanding obligations under the RM380.0 million Al Bai’ Bithaman Ajil Primary Serial Medium Term Notes and RM70.0 million Murabahah Commercial Papers/Medium Term Notes programmes.
“The ratings of both have been affirmed by MARC at A+ ID and MARC-2 ID/A+ID respectively,” it said.
MARC also said the IMTN extends MESB’s debt maturity profile, allowing traffic to ramp up before it starts to amortise in 2015.
“The stable rating outlook reflects satisfactory traffic performance since the opening of the Maju Expressway (MEX), adequate projected traffic growth based on the latest traffic study and robust debt service coverages,” it added.
In financial year ended December 31, 2009 (unaudited), MESB’s revenue increased by 42.2 per cent to RM44.5 million following higher traffic volume on the highway.
MESB generated a profit of RM1.0 million in financial year 2009 compared to the previous year’s pre-tax loss of RM9.8 million.
— BERNAMA