S&P Maalot Upgrades Gazit-Globe's Domestic Credit Rating to ilAA- With Stable Outlook

TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL, May 13, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gazit-Globe (TASE:GZT) (NYSE:GZT), one of the world's leading multi-national real estate companies focused on the acquisition, development and redevelopment of supermarket-anchored shopping centers, announced today that the credit rating agency S&P Maalot has upgraded its Domestic Credit Rating from ilA+ to ilAA- with a Stable Outlook.

Below are a few highlights from S&P Maalot's report on the Company:

• Sustained reduction in financial leverage and continued improvement in the financial profile in line with the group's strategy have led to a marked improvement in leverage and coverage ratios.
• The group's activities have shown improvement both in levels of income and in operating performance of the subsidiaries, while its asset portfolio has increased.
• The stable outlook reflects our assessment that the group will continue to pursue policies and steps that will support continued improvement in its financial profile while maintaining adequate liquidity and operating stability.

Roni Soffer, Gazit-Globe's President: "We consider the latest improvement in the Company's credit rating to be highly significant. The upgrade from S&P Maalot is additional recognition of the quality of the Company's credit. The credit rating improvement is a result of our ongoing efforts to strengthen the Company's capital structure, including financial deleveraging and increasing liquidity, which have been undertaken over the last few years, as well as the improvement in the quality of our portfolio, including acquisitions of prime properties in growing urban locations, and capital recycling of non-core assets.

"We believe that the upgrade in our credit rating, as well as in the credit ratings of all of our public subsidiaries, will increase our access to both domestic and international capital markets while we continue to implement our business strategy."

The translation from Hebrew of S&P Maalot's report can be found in the following link: http://www.gazit-globe.com/Data/Uploads/Gazit_Globe_S_P_052013.pdf

About Gazit-Globe

Gazit-Globe is one of the largest owners and operators of supermarket-anchored shopping centers in the world. In addition, the Company is active in North America in the healthcare real estate sector. Gazit-Globe is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:GZT) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:GZT) and is included in the TA-25 and Real-Estate 15 indices in Israel. Gazit Globe owns and operates over 600 properties in more than 20 countries, with a gross leasable area of approximately 6.8 million square meters and a total value of more than $20 billion.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

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