BarCap Structures Billboard ABS

Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley have structured a $355 million deal backed by billboard collateral, the first of its kind to be rated by Moody’s Investors Service. The deal securitizes 10,172 billboard faces, associated with 4,982 outdoor advertising structures and related permits, licenses, ground leases and the property on which the billboards stand, according to a Moody’s pre-sale report. In the 12 months through last September the portfolio of billboards brought in $98 million in revenue, generating an operating margin of 61%. Minnesota-based AOA Management Company Limited Partnership will manage the billboards for the deal’s issuer. The agency gave preliminary ratings of ‘A(sf)’ for the $254 million in A notes, ‘Ba2(sf)’ for the $44 million in B notes, and ‘B3(sf)’ for the $57 million in C notes.