...HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 23, 2016--S&P Global Ratings said today that its corporate credit ratings and outlook on Yuexiu Property Co. Ltd. (###-/Negative/--; cnBBB+/--) are not immediately affected by the company's mixed 2016 interim results. We believe Yuexiu Property's leverage may remain high for the current rating level. Although the company's total debt declined in the first half, the drop stemmed from the company managing its foreign currency exposure. Yuexiu Property's interim total debt level decreased 13% to Chinese renminbi (RMB) 33 billion after it paid down foreign-currency-denominated debt. The company's rolling 12-month debt-to-EBITDA ratio also fell accordingly to around 7.5x, from 8.2x in 2015. We believe total debt may increase again in the second half, with an onshore bond issuance and potential land acquisitions. Given that Yuexiu Property was not very active in buying land in the past few months, it may step up its effort. We continue to project the company's...
