Below is an excerpt from Calkain Research's new Credit Rating Report:

In commercial net leases, the investment yields are primarily based on the credit of the tenant. Other factors such as rental location and trends are also factors, but are not the significant factor in the yield. While credit of the borrower is important in the credit decision, the lender heavily weighs the credit rating of the tenant. Ratings are determined by several credit agencies. Two of the major agencies are Standard & Poors (S&P) and Moody’s. Lenders such as private investors, banks, and insurance companies use these ratings to consider who they may consider giving a secured loan too and what the terms will be.

Each lender has different criteria for who they lend too. For example, CTL lenders will only lend to investment tenants regardless of the quality of real estate. On the other hand, insurance companies such as American Fidelity assess all types of companies and measure them through H and Z scores to determine if they qualify. A company could have no or non-investment credit but have high H and Z scores and qualify for a loan. As do investors, all lenders try to diversify their portfolio assets as much as possible.