S&P rates Retail Opportunity notes BBB-

Standard & Poor's said it assigned its BBB- issue-level rating to Retail Opportunity Investments Partnership LP's $250 million senior unsecured notes due 2024.

The notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by parent company Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC).

The BBB- corporate credit rating and stable outlook on both entities are unchanged.

ROIC will use the proceeds to repay borrowings under its $350 million unsecured revolving credit facility maturing August 2017, the $200 million term loan maturing August 2017 and for general corporate purposes.

The indenture governing the notes contains covenants typical of U.S. equity REITs including a limitation on total debt (less than 60% of total assets) and secured debt (less than 40% of total assets) as well as a minimum debt service coverage requirement (greater than 1.5 times) and maintenance of total unencumbered assets (greater than 1.5 times of total unsecured debt).

S&P said the corporate credit rating continues to reflect the company's "fair" business risk profile and "intermediate" financial risk profile. Operating performance was relatively strong in the third quarter with same-center cash net operating income up 4.0%, and portfolio leased occupancy at 97.4%.

The company has acquired roughly $323 million of shopping centers through the first nine months of 2014.

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