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Investing.com -- Moody’s Ratings has affirmed the Baa2 long-term issuer rating of Atrium Ljungberg AB, a leading Swedish real estate company, while changing the outlook to stable from negative.
The rating action highlights Atrium’s robust operating performance, demonstrated by solid rental income growth and expected improvements in credit metrics. The company has maintained its debt/asset ratio at approximately 43% as of June 2025, which falls within the required range for the Baa2 rating category.
Moody’s expects Atrium’s EBITDA interest expense to decrease to 2.3x in 2025 due to refinancing at higher interest rates, but projects improvement to between 2.4x and 2.6x by 2026-2027. This improvement is anticipated as project properties begin generating cash flow, occupancy rates increase, and interest rates decline.
The rating agency commended Atrium for taking proactive measures to strengthen its credit quality, including divesting 4% of its portfolio over the past two years and reducing dividend payouts from 43-59% to 33%.
Despite these positive factors, Atrium faces challenges including a high net debt to EBITDA ratio of 13x, attributed to substantial project developments and low-yielding assets. The company also has a short debt maturity profile averaging 3.6 years.
The stable outlook reflects Moody’s expectation of continued operating performance improvements in upcoming quarters, with stable net rental growth leading to better credit metrics. This growth is expected to come from new project completions, reduction in the current 9% vacancy rate, and limited CPI indexation effects.
Factors that could lead to a rating upgrade include maintaining a debt/gross assets ratio well below 40%, achieving EBITDA interest expense around 3.5x on a sustained basis, and significantly extending debt maturities while maintaining high hedging levels.
Conversely, a material deterioration in operating performance, leverage moving toward 45%, or heavy reliance on short-term funding could lead to a downgrade.
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