Waha Aerospace Plans $1.5 Billion Bond; Gets AA Rating on State Guarantee - Bloomberg

Waha Aerospace BV plans to raise $1.5 billion in bonds guaranteed by the United Arab Emirates government, according to Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, which gave the debt their third-highest ratings.

Moody’s assigned the proposed bonds an Aa2 debt rating while Fitch and Standard & Poor’s granted AA debt rankings, the same level as held by the United Arab Emirates’ largest and richest emirate. All three credit-rating companies cited the state’s guarantee of the 2020 bonds as justification for the ranking.

The proposed debt, to finance purchases of military equipment, “benefits from an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” S&P said in a statement. The guarantee runs to the end of the bond’s maturity, it said.