The rating on Malaysia-based palm oil producer IOI Corp. Bhd. reflects the company's favorable plantation resources, intermediate financial risk profile, and strong competitive cost position. These strengths are largely due to the synergy between IOI's key business segments, given that more than 90% of the company's plantation sales are to its own downstream facilities. However, these strengths are partly offset by the cyclical nature of its plantation and property businesses and the company's fairly aggressive stance to debt-funded expansions and acquisitions in the past. We believe the company will maintain this stance toward future strategic acquisitions. However, we expect IOI's credit protection metrics to remain commensurate with the 'BBB+' rating level. IOI is a major integrated palm oil producer with