KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): MARC Ratings has revised the outlook on Sunway Bhd's (KL:SUNWAY) sukuk and debt programme ratings to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’, citing the potential proceeds from the upcoming listing of its healthcare division and a robust earnings profile.

The re-measurement of Sunway’s interest in Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd would reduce the group’s leverage, the ratings agency said in a statement on Monday, with debt-to-equity (DE) and net DE ratios estimated to improve to 0.55 times and 0.31 times.

Sunway has put 502.72 million shares, 4.4% of the enlarged share base, in Sunway Healthcare under its offer for sale to raise RM729 million. Proceeds will mainly be used for redemption of medium-term notes and/or repayment of bank borrowings, as well as property development and property investment expenditure, MARC Ratings said.

Sunway, via SunCity, will retain a 69.5% stake in the healthcare unit, down from 84%.

MARC Ratings maintained the ratings on Sunway’s various debt instruments as it undertakes an annual rating review expected to conclude in May 2026. These include the RM10 billion Islamic medium-term note programme at AA-IS, and the RM5 billion perpetual sukuk at AIS.

The improved outlook on its sukuk and debt programme was also down to Sunway’s improved performance across all segments in 2025, except property development, MARC Ratings said.

The agency said Sunway’s construction segment improved largely on higher contributions from accelerated progress on data centre projects.

The property investment segment, meanwhile, was supported by new income contributions from Sunway Square’s property investment assets and Sunway Wangsa Mall, as well as higher income from Sunway REIT, on its expanded portfolio.

“Higher earnings from the two segments offset lower profit from property development operations, with lower progress billings as several projects were in the early stages of construction,” it added.

Sunway Healthcare is set to list on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on March 18.

The listing exercise involves 1.97 billion shares, comprising an offer for sale of up to 1.39 billion existing shares, and a public issue of 575 million new shares to retail and institutional investors.

The other 891.26 million shares under the offer for sale are offered by Greenwood Capital, a unit of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. Upon listing, GIC’s stake in Sunway Healthcare is set to drop to 7.5% from 16%.