Europe

A German consumer finance arm of Crédit Agricole is securitizing its third rated pool of unsecured consumer loans in a €1.3 billion (US$1.48 billion) transaction.

Investcorp is buying the debt management business of 3i Group for £222 million (US$270.6 million, giving the Bahrain-based private equity firm with one of the larger cross-border CLO management operations.

The debt consolidation loans originated by GE are backed by French homes, in a deal arranged by Morgan Stanley and the second true-sale securitization of debt consolidation receivables. The deal builds on a smaller initial €871.2 million SapphireOne issuance in July.

In a quarterly survey by the New York-based International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers, 57% of respondents expect wider credit spreads in U.S. investment grade debt and 70% in U.S. high yield bonds and leveraged loans over the final three months of the year. Also for the fourth quarter, 66% see rising levels of corporate defaults.

The Florida Public Service Commission has a beef with Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings, which all characterize bonds backed by utility fees as a kind of structured finance, rather than as corporate bonds.

Hawksmoor Mortgages 2016-2 plc is a British sterling-pound denominated RMBS with a £1.124 billion pool balance secured by mortgages to residential properties in the UK extended to 12,153 borrowers. Eighty percent were originated by GE's UK home-lending arms that have since sold off portfolios and exited the British mortgage scene.

September was the busiest month for CLO issuance since mid-2015, accoriding to Thomson Reuters L

While Volkswagen continues its international efforts to remedy its 2015 diesel-engine emissions scandal, the German automaker also carries on with its ramped-up efforts since last fall to raise more capital through securitizations. The latest transaction is a €750 million (US$837.5 million) static pool of German vehicle lease receivables from both retail and commercial contracts.

The Florida Public Service Commission takes issue with the way that three U.S. credit rating agencies classify certain bonds issued on behalf of two power companies that operate in the state.

An affiliate of BBVA is securitizing €265 million in Spanish mortgages, a majority of which are formerly delinquent loans from the Catalonia region returned to performing status.

The portfolio’s structure includes a €930 million Class A notes stack carrying a floating rate coupon and provisional triple-A ratings from DBRS and Moody’s Investors Service.

A pool of credit card receives issued by Group BPCE’s Natixis Financement unit are being securitized in the second-ever issuance through the Purple Master Credit Cards, FCT in France. The €651 million transaction mostly consists of €550 million in a Class A2016-1 series of notes.

Zopa, an online lender based in the U.K., is marketing £138 million of bonds backed by unsecured consumer loans, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

E-Carat S.A., Compartment 9 is comprised of two series of rated notes of undetermined size, backed by a pool of €513.5 million in loans.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency taps Mauricio Noe to Lead its push into Europe.

Ford Motor Co. is securitizing its second round of German auto loans this year in a €541.7 million pool of both private and commercial borrower receivables tied to significant balloon payments.

The earthquake that struck central Italy on Aug. 25 will have limited impact on bonds backed by residential mortgages or loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, according to DBRS.

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned provisional ratings to five classes of notes in STORM 2016-II B.V., a €1.15 billion pooling of 5,729 30-year home loans to consumers in The Netherlands. The sizes of the Euro-denominated notes are to be determined.

The U.K. government will redeem £3 billion ($3.9 billion) of bonds backed by mortgages from rescued lender Bradford & Bingley, paving the way for a potential sale of the loans

Europe’s speculative-grade corporate default rate is expected to rise slightly by next year amid lingering credit instability, slow economic growth and a growing concentration of companies in the lowest levels of junk-grade ratings.