Moody's downgrades Yanlord unit's backed senior unsecured bond rating to Ba3

MOODY'S has downgraded Yanlord Land (HK) Co Limited's backed senior unsecured bond rating to Ba3 from Ba2, with a stable outlook.

The ratings agency said that Yanlord Land (HK)'s - a unit of Yanlord Land Group - backed senior unsecured bond rating is lower than the Ba2 (stable) rating of Yanlord Land Group because of the "risk of structural and legal subordination".

"This subordination risk reflects the fact that the majority of claims of Yanlord Land Group Limited are at the operating subsidiaries, and have priority over claims at the holding company in a bankruptcy scenario," Moody's said.

"In addition, the holding company lacks significant mitigating factors for structural subordination. As a result, the expected recovery rate for claims at the holding company will be lower."

As at Monday's trading close, Yanlord's shares on the Singapore Exchange were trading at S$1.62 apiece, down S$0.03 or 1.82 per cent.