KUALA LUMPUR (March 23): Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) has assigned a rating of AAAIS with a stable outlook to Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd's (PJH) proposed 20-year RM1 billion sukuk wakalah programme.

In an announcement on its website yesterday, MARC said proceeds from the new programme will be used for the construction of PJH's commercial and residential projects in Precincts 7 and 8 in Putrajaya.

These projects, which exclude projects under planning, have an estimated gross development cost of RM775.8 million, and are slated for completion by end-2025.

“MARC continues to premise the ratings and outlook on the predictable and sizeable lease rental income from the Malaysian government as the principal lessee of 41 government buildings in Putrajaya, the construction of which was undertaken and funded by PJH.

"The annual lease rental income of RM1.6 billion is deemed to be more than sufficient to meet principal repayments of between RM470 million and RM835 million annually over the next five years. Financial obligations under the new programme will be met through this strong recurring cash flow. PJH retained a strong liquidity position, with cash and bank balances of RM853.6 million as at end-December 2020,” the rating agency said.

PJH is the master developer of Putrajaya. Its majority shareholder is Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) via KLCC (Holdings) Sdn Bhd with a 64.41% stake, followed by Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara (KWAN) with 20% and Khazanah Nasional Bhd with 15.59%.

Concurrently, the rating agency also affirmed its existing ratings of PJH's other issuances, namely its RM370 million sukuk musharakah programme at AAAIS, a RM3 billion sukuk musharakah programme at AAAIS and a RM1.5 billion sukuk musharakah medium-term notes (MTN) programme at AAAIS. The rating outlook for all is stable.