NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE: BRX) announced today that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned a BBB- corporate credit rating to Brixmor Property Group Inc. and its operating subsidiary Brixmor Operating Partnership L.P. and Fitch Ratings has assigned an initial Issuer Default Rating of BBB- to Brixmor Property Group, Inc. and its operating subsidiary Brixmor Operating Partnership, L.P.
Standard & Poor's indicated in their announcement that the rating reflects Brixmor's sizable, geographically diverse and predominantly grocery-anchored community and neighborhood shopping centers; favorable turnover of cycle trough (below market) leases in its portfolio; and moderate leverage profile with adequate fixed charge and total dividend coverage. Fitch Ratings indicated in their announcement that the rating reflects Brixmor's large and diverse portfolio; solid internal growth with above average same property NOI growth; growing unencumbered pool; and improving fixed-charge coverage.
"Over the last two years, we have significantly enhanced the credit profile of our Company by extending and balancing our maturity profile, increasing our unencumbered asset pool to 50% of NOI from 35% and reducing our overall leverage," stated Michael Pappagallo, President and Chief Financial Officer. "The achievement of these two investment grade ratings, coupled with our existing investment grade rating from Moody's, provides us important access to an additional key capital source in the unsecured credit market and will enable us to further evolve our capital structure."
More information regarding Brixmor's rating assignment can be found on Standard & Poor's website at www.standardandpoors.com and at Fitch's website at www.fitchratings.com.
About Brixmor Property Group
Brixmor owns and operates the nation's largest wholly owned portfolio of grocery-anchored community and neighborhood shopping centers, with 522 properties aggregating approximately 87 million square feet of gross leasable area located primarily across the top 50 U.S. metro markets. Brixmor leverages its national footprint, local market knowledge and operational expertise to support the growth of its retail tenants. The Company is focused on maximizing the value of its portfolio through its extensive leasing capabilities and anchor space repositioning / redevelopment platform. Headquartered in New York City, the Company is the largest landlord to The TJX Companies and The Kroger Company. For additional information, please visit www.brixmor.com.
Safe Harbor Language
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the Company's expectations regarding the performance of its business, its financial results, its liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "approximately," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 filed with the SEC, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in the Company's filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
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SOURCE Brixmor Property Group Inc.
