All the notes issued under Series Three of Growthpoint Notes Issuer Company, the issuer company for Growthpoint Properties Limited, have been upgraded by Moody's Investor Services.

The notes, which were previously rated Aaa.za on a national scale have been given an Aaa equivalent rating on a Global Local Currency (GLC) rating. The GLC ratings are a reflection of Moody's opinion on the transaction risks when applying global standards to transactions aspects such as expected loss, hedge counterparty risk, liquidity facility and any other structural features.

Growthpoint’s notes rating upgrade follows Moody's application of its refined National Scale Ratings (NSR) methodology to all existing and new structured finance term transactions.T he new structure was applied following consultation with market participants associated with the South African securitisation market.

Growthpoint is the only single borrower CMBS deal in the South African market to be awarded an Aaa GLC rating and thus leads the global market in South African securitisation credit rating.

Making this upgrading even more noteworthy, the notes represent a ‘whole business securitisation’ or the CMBS of Growthpoint's own assets, as opposed to assets placed in a Special Purpose Vehicle in order to ring fence the assets from risk.

“This upgrade is an indication of the confidence of the rating agency in Growthpoint and as such should assist Growthpoint in obtaining favourable rates in future debt funding locally and facilitate the possibility of offshore borrowings,” says CFO of Growthpoint Properties Limited, Stuart Snowball.