Liberty fury over rating downgrade

LIBERTY International, Britain's biggest shopping centres owner, today lashed out at credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, which recently downgraded the unsecured debt rating of its main subsidiary Capital Shopping Centres to below investment grade.

Liberty, whose estate includes Lakeside at Thurrock, Essex, has sacked Fitch, claiming it got it wrong, and launched a crusade against the ratings agencies in general.

Fitch's downgrading rests on the fact that some of the company's assets have been linked to particular slices of debt. But chief executive David Fischel argued that Liberty's financing was extremely strong.

'We have £1.1bn of unsecured assets available for £120m of unsecured bonds,' he said.

Chairman Douglas Gordon is also furious. He said: 'My firm conclusion emanating from the above regrettable experience is that rating agencies should as a matter of urgency be subject to direct regulatory supervision by the Financial Services Authority or equivalent regulatory body and a mechanism for appeal against the unfair ratings should be established.'

The underling growth in investment income from the group's 1500 mainly retail leases was up 6% at £108.1m, but lower profits from trading activities led to a slight decline in pre-tax profits for the first half to £50.5m.