KARACHI: JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited has upgraded rating of outstanding Privately Placed Term Finance Certificates to single A from single A minus.

A preliminary rating of single A plus has also been assigned to the proposed Rs 3 billion Sukuk of Sindh Nooriabad Power Company Phase-II (Pvt.) Limited (SNPC-2), said a press release on Friday.

The preliminary rating will be converted into a final rating upon review of signed legal documents. The ratings signify good credit quality and adequate protection factors; risk factors may vary with possible changes in the economy. Outlook on the PPTFCs and preliminary Sukuk rating is stable. The previous rating action was announced on October 14, 2016.

The assigned ratings incorporate the support of Government of Sindh as one of the key stakeholder in the institution under the Public-Private Partnership scheme with Technomen Kinetics (Pvt.) Limited. Besides being a key shareholder, Government of Sindh through the Government of Sindh employee pension fund has also provided a sizeable portion of the outstanding debt in addition to security for the purpose of securing funding.

Both sponsors have demonstrated support in the form of additional equity injection and subordinated loans.