SINGAPORE: Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd. has announce that global ratings agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded and affirmed the ratings assigned to the private equity bonds issued by Astrea III Pte. Ltd. and Astrea IV Pte. Ltd.[the_ad id=”31605″]This follows Fitch’s previous upgrade of Astrea III’s Class A-1 Bonds from ‘Asf’ to ‘A+sf’ in July 2017.
Margaret Lui, Chief Executive Officer of Azalea, said, “We are heartened by Fitch’s upgrade and affirmation of the ratings of the Astrea PE Bonds, in particular the Astrea IV Class A-1 Bonds, which were upgraded within a year of launch. The performance of the Astrea PE Bonds exemplifies the dynamism and strength of the Astrea platform. This upgrade bears testament to the quality and cash generative nature of both Astrea PE portfolios, which enables investors to receive regular income while enjoying diversification benefits.”
The upgrade and affirmation by Fitch reflect the performance and reserves accounts balances of both the Astrea III and Astrea IV transactions. Fitch has attributed this to their diversified PE portfolios, sufficient over-collateralisation, ability to pass all loan-to-value (“LTV”) tests to date and other key structural protections, as well as the close alignment of interests between the Sponsors and Bondholders.
According to Fitch, both Astrea III and Astrea IV have thus far performed in line with its expectations, and significantly better than the stress scenarios run in its initial rating analysis.
The Astrea Platform is a series of investment products based on diversified portfolios of PE funds. It represents a phased approach to develop products for Singapore retail investors to co-invest with Azalea in private equity.
Started in 2006, there are four in the series to date, with Astrea IV being the first listed retail PE Bond available to retail investors in Singapore.
Chue En Yaw, Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Funds at Azalea, said, “The Astrea PE Bonds are a unique product, and we are encouraged by the positive feedback and strong interest in the bonds so far. Investor education continues to be a key focus area at Azalea, and we have taken efforts to make our Annual Reports easy to understand for Astrea Bondholders. We also held our inaugural Astrea Investor Day in January this year, as part of our commitment to actively engage with retail investors.”