UPDATE: Issuance Picks Up Ahead Of Fed's TALF Loan Deadline
06 Juli 2009 - 9:14PM
Dow Jones News
More than $10 billion in consumer loan-backed deals is set to
price Tuesday, ahead of a loan application deadline for a Federal
Reserve program.
Issuers include Honda Motor Co. (HMC), Harley-Davidson Inc.
(HOG), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Ford Motor Co. (F),
Chrysler Auto and SLM Corp. (SLM), better known as Sallie Mae.
The central bank launched the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan
Facility, or TALF, in March to boost the securitization market.
Investors get cheap loans to buy these newly created deals, and
Tuesday is the fifth round of such applications.
Honda's $1.827 billion TALF-eligible deal was increased in size
from an original $1.5 billion and has launched. The largest
triple-A rated tranche worth $725 million for 1.98 years has
launched at 100 basis points over a futures benchmark. Joint leads
on the deal are Banc of America Securities and Credit Suisse.
Price guidance on Ford Motor Co.'s $1.02 billion deal has
emerged. On the largest triple-A rated tranche of $343 million, it
is 140 basis points over a futures benchmark.
Price guidance is also out on Harley Davidson's $700 million
deal. On the $260 million tranche of the deal, dubbed HDMOT 2009-2,
it is in the 130-135 basis points over a futures benchmark
area.
Americredit's $725 million deal, dubbed AMCAR 2009-1, has also
launched. The $166 million tranche launched at 155 basis points
over a futures benchmark.
Last week, Discover's $1.5 billion credit card loan-backed deal
sold at 130 basis points over the one-month London interbank
offered rate or Libor, according to a person familiar with the
deal.
The stream of issuance "continues to show that the program is a
success," said Dan Nigro, a portfolio manager at Dynamic Credit
Partners in New York. "We are seeing much more investor
participation."
There has been about $43 billion in asset-backed securities'
issuance in the second quarter, according to data provider
Dealogic. The bulk of the issues have been financed using the Fed's
loans.
This market had become inactive during the height of the credit
crunch.
Many of the recent deals are oversubscribed. Nigro cautions this
may be because interest has increased and some investors may be
asking for more than they actually want to purchase.
In June, 13 TALF-eligible deals totaling $16.4 billion and three
non-TALF deals for about $3 billion were sold.
In May, $13.6 billion in TALF-eligible deals were sold, up
sharply from April's $2.9 billion.
When the program launched in March, it received a lukewarm
reception and only four deals for $8.3 billion were sold.
Among non-TALF deals sold recently is a $1.845 billion
credit-card loan backed deal from JP Morgan Chase & Co.
(JPM).
The central bank has already expanded the $1 trillion program to
include newly created commercial mortgage-backed securities and is
likely to include existing CMBS later this month.
-By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2227;
anusha.shrivastava@dowjones.com