MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 22, 2012—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it had assigned its 'A-' issuer credit rating to Australian-based GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund (GWSCF). The outlook on the rating is stable. "The issuer credit rating on GWSCF reflects the fund's "strong" business risk profile, which is characterized by its well-managed, high-quality assets, and our expectations of robust cash-flow fundamentals, despite a slowing Australian retail trading environment," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Craig Parker said. "The fund also benefits from a "modest" financial risk profile and has the capacity to accommodate lumpy capital expenditure and acquisition costs." Partly offsetting these credit strengths are the limited diversity of the group's portfolio, its significant ongoing capital-expenditure requirements,
