Very conservative gearing policy and strong liquidity High-quality portfolio of shopping-center assets Favorable competitive position due to town-planning restrictions in Australia Portfolio diversification by geography, asset, tenant, and length of lease Ongoing capital-expenditure requirements for center expansions and development Exposure to discretionary consumer spending and tenant-demand cycles The issuer credit rating on Australian Prime Property Fund Retail (APPF Retail) reflects our view of the Australia-based retail fund's "strong" business risk profile and "modest" financial risk profile. We believe that APPF Retail benefits from the fund's very conservative financial policies which emanate from its strategy to be primarily equity-funded, resulting in relatively low gearing and a manageable refinancing task through capital-market cycles. The ratings on APPF Retail also reflect our view
