Urban Renewal Authority

The stable outlook on URA reflects the rating outlook on HKSAR, given our expectation of an extremely high likelihood of government support for the authority if needed. The rating on URA will move in tandem with that on the HKSAR. The outlook also reflects our expectation that URA will maintain conservative financial management and a strong financial position with low debt leverage as it continues to spend on redevelopment projects. We may lower the rating on URA if we downgrade the HKSAR or we reassess the likelihood of extraordinary government support stemming from any weakening in operational and financial support from the HKSAR government. We may also downgrade URA if we assess that its 'aa-' stand-alone credit profile (SACP) has

...Likelihood of government support in times of need may rise as the authority's policy role strengthens. We believe that as Urban Renewal Authority (URA) undertakes more government initiatives and larger scale redevelopment projects, its role as the execution arm of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government for key policies is likely to strengthen. In recent years, URA has supported various government initiatives, on top of the major operation of redeveloping aged buildings. These include the Starter Homes Pilot Project, a number of building safety improvement initiatives, and the redevelopment of buildings under the Civil Servants' Co-operative Building Society Scheme. Ongoing government support underpins URA's financial sustainability and ability to meet capital requirement.We expect the authority to continue to receive ongoing support from the HKSAR government in the form of land premium waiver and taxation exemption. In the financial year ended March 31, 2018, URA...

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