Moody's upbeat over Aldar's prospects in 2009

STABLE OUTLOOK: Moody's remains positive about Aldar's prospects in 2009, despite the UAE's real estate slump. (ITP Images)

Moody's has assigned a stable outlook to Aldar Properties, one of Abu Dhabi's largest developers which, it says, has so far avoided any customer defaults on any of its projects.

Aldar, which is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange with a market capitalisation of $2.7 billion, has $72bn worth of projects in the pipeline, the rating agency said in a new report on the company.

Martin Kohlhase, AVP-analyst at Moody's, said: "Although demand in the Middle East for real estate has materially softened since the fourth quarter of 2008...the government of Abu Dhabi has awarded a significant number of new projects to Aldar, which amounts to some 85 percent of work to be commenced during 2009.

"Aldar's existing projects that are under construction are executed as projected and, so far, no customer delinquencies on the residential side have been recorded."

The report also noted Aldar's modified business plan, which not only has been downscaled from the previous year as the global economic crisis took effect, but also reflected a much higher share of government projects.

Moody's said its stable outlook for Aldar assumed it maintained its close relationship with the government and that that the government keeps up its high level of commitment.

The stable outlook also took into account that Aldar executes existing and future projects on time and on budget in line with its strategy, Kohlhase added.

Moody's also said Aldar's outlook was also helped by the Abu Dhabi real estate market which was relatively under-developed compared to neighbouring cities Doha and Dubai.

Recent estimates suggest a short-fall of around 28,000 residential units that will only be filled until 2012.

The Moody's report added that as at the end of March 2009, Aldar had AED15.1 billion in liquid funds, primarily in the form of deposits with domestic banks.

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