By Charles Williams and Adam Tempkin
NEW YORK, April 20 (IFR) – After US$6.3bn in U.S. consumer
ABS was priced last week, the primary market has remained robust
this week as another US$6bn of new issuance emerged.
Year-to-date new ABS issuance is now approximately US$61.43bn,
according to IFR Markets and Thomson Reuters SDC.
Barclays, Bank of America and JP Morgan are currently the
top three underwriters.
For the first time since August 2009, Wheels Inc
, a fleet-lease management company, returned to the
market as JP Morgan, RBS and Wells Fargo priced the US$514m
Wheels 2012-1 offering.
The transaction was the Des Plaines, Illinois-based
company’s third U.S. public term securitization with proceeds
being used for general corporate purposes. The notes are backed
by payments on a pool of open-end vehicle fleet lease contracts
for cars, light-duty trucks, and other vehicles originated and
serviced by Wheels.
The money market class was printed at 20bp less than
interpolated Libor after being talked at minus 15bp to minus
10bp. The Triple A rated classes included tenors of 1.84 and
3.25-years that were initially talked at EDSF plus 75bp-85bp and
interpolated Swaps plus 90bp-100bp.
Both classes tightened at pricing to 65bp and 80bp,
respectively. The 3.65-year Double A tranche priced at
interpolated Swaps plus 150bp while the 3.73-year Single A slice
was stamped at interpolated Swaps plus 200bp.
The company’s last transaction, Wheels 2009-1 Fleet Lease,
was a TALF-eligible deal, which included a Triple A rated
1.46-year slice that was printed at one-month Libor plus 155bp.
The pricing on the 3.01-year Double A tranche as well as the
“A1/A/A-” class was not offered.
JP Morgan (structuring lead) and Barclays this week also
priced the US$1bn BMW Vehicle Lease Trust (BMWLT) 2012-1, the
German carmaker’s first ABS offering of 2012.
The collateral pool was consistent with that of its prior
transaction, the BMWLT 2011-1 series. The closed-end leases, all
of which are new vehicles manufactured by BMW and originated
through BMW Financial Services, offered a strong weighted
average FICO score of 763 and seasoning of ten months, according
to Fitch. The transaction was also increased from an initial
size of US$750m.
The Triple A rated tranches offered weighted average lives
of 1.12, 1.80 and 2.23-years, respectively. After being talked
at EDSF plus 12-14bp, 25-27bp and interpolated Swaps plus 38bp
area, pricing was completed at firmer levels of 10bp, 22bp and
35bp. The money market class was priced in line with talk at
20bp less than interpolated Libor.
The 1.10, 1.71 and 2.21-year Triple A notes in the BMWLT
2011-1 series were priced at EDSF plus 20bp, 30bp and
interpolated Swaps plus 37bp. The transaction was priced back on
April 13, 2011 by Citigroup and JP Morgan.
Honda and Ford this week returned with their second prime
retail offerings of the year, the US$1.5bn Credit Suisse
(structuring lead) and BNP Paribas-led Honda Auto Receivables
Owner Trust (HAROT) 2012-2 and the US$2.04bn Ford Credit Auto
Owner Trust (FORDO) 2012-B via Barclays, BNP Paribas, Bank of
America and RBS.
Both transactions were increased from initial amounts of
US$1bn and US$1.396bn, respectively.
The 1.12, 2.20 and 3.11-year Triple A rated classes in HAROT
2012-2 were priced at EDSF plus 6bp, interpolated Swaps plus
12bp and interpolated Swaps plus 21bp. The money market class
was printed at 26bp less than interpolated Libor.
The 1.05, 2.30 and 3.55-year Triple A rated classes in FORDO
2012-B were stamped at EDSF plus 8bp, interpolated Swaps plus
13bp and interpolated Swaps plus 21bp. The money market class
was printed at 20bp less than interpolated Libor.
RBS (structuring lead), Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo also
priced the US$235m 144a DriveTime Auto (DTAOT) 2012-1. The
subprime-backed offering included a 0.61-year Triple A class
that was priced at EDSF plus 60bp after being talked at 60-70bp
as well as a Double A rated 1.60-year slice that printed in line
with guidance at EDSF plus 175bp.
The 2.01-year class was rated Single A plus by S&P; and
Single A by DBRS and was also priced in line with talk at
interpolated Swaps plus 285bp. The 2.77-year Triple B tranche
was priced at a yield of 5%.
Barclays (structuring lead) and Deutsche Bank priced the
final ABS offering of the week, the US$753.1m 144a/RegS CIT
Equipment Collateral 2012-VT1. The collateral consisted of
small-ticket equipment leases.
The Triple A rated tranches offered average lives of 1.10
and 1.94-years, respectively. After being talked at EDSF plus
35-40bp and 55-60bp, pricing spreads were set on the tight end
at 35bp and 55bp.
The structure also included a 2.66-year Double A note as
well as a Single A and Triple B slice with average lives of
2.82-years. Pricing for those tranches was set at interpolated
Swaps plus 105bp, 190bp and 350bp, respectively. The money
market class was printed at 18 less than interpolated Libor.
Lastly, Wells Fargo and RBS are expected to price the
US$104m 144a VOLT 2012-NPL1 non-performing RMBS later this
afternoon from issuer Vericrest Financial.
Vericrest was formerly the CIT Group/Sales Financing Inc. In
2009, Lone Star Funds acquired the home lending business
platform of CIT Group, Inc., including The CIT Group/Sales
Financing, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and changed the name to
Vericrest Financial, Inc.
For other fixed-income reports, please double-click on the
symbol:
U.S. Treasuries……….
U.S. Treasury outlook…
U.S. corporate bonds….
U.S. agencies………..
U.S. mortgage-backeds…
U.S. asset-backeds……
U.S. municipal bonds…
European corporate bonds……………
European government bonds…………..
Japanese government debt……………
G7 government bond spreads………….
Emerging market debt….
World bonds column……
(Reporting by Charles Williams and Adam Tempkin)
