New issuance slowed last week, as many in the market were in Barcelona attending the global asset securitization conference held there (see story p. 1).
Volume for the week totaled only $4.115 billion, down from the $10 billion which priced the previous week. The primary market was focused on real estate-related issuance, with only $845 million of non-real estate-related activity.
The largest deal of the week came from Chase Funding Corp. vehicle CFLAT, which sold $930 million of home-equity loan-backed paper via unit JP Morgan Securities. The series 2001-C2 offering was the second deal for Chase with exposure to deep MI, it was added (see story,
p. 9). Of the pool, 66% of the fixed-rate and 71% of the floating-rate classes were insured down to 65 LTV.
The issue was very well received, pricing just one day after being announced to the market, despite fairly heavy mortgage supply. "In terms of where we went out, this was a very successful offering; with the exception of the three-year (AI-2) class, it tightened across the board," said Matt Whalen, vice president of JP Morgan's North American ABS group.
Adding to the strong supply in the sector, deals priced this week from units of Bank of America, GMAC, and IndyMac Mortgage.
Late in the week, Bank of America Mortgage Securities sold $724 million of a five-by-one hybrid ARM-backed deal, led by unit Banc of America Sercurities. The series 2001-C deal, which featured a variable capital structure, changed due to demand from announcement to pricing. Offered spreads widened significantly from initial guidance levels, pricing up to 10 basis points wider than guidance disseminated earlier in the week.
GMAC priced $480 million of a series 2001-HE2 deal via Bear Stearns, backed by conforming and non-conforming home-equity lines of Credit (HELOC). Also, GMAC Mortgage priced $585 million of a 2001-HE2 deal via Greenwich Capital Markets, backed by fixed-rate closed-end second mortgages.
IndyMac Mortgage sold $350 million of subprime home-equity loan-backed paper via the lead of Banc of America Securities, which priced right in line with price guidance after a solid premarketing session. The series 2001-B deal was backed by loans with an average FICO score of 615 and a weighted average loan-to-value of 79, according to John Kim of IndyMac.
Away from real estate-related issuance, and without much competition this week, IKON Office Solutions sold $595 million of an office equipment lease securitization, the issuer's first of the year. With one of the few deals in the market not connected to the real estate sectors, strong demand was seen across the board for this offering, which priced tight to or at the tight end of price guidance in all classes.
In the private placement Rule 144A markets, two new issues of note came down the pipeline; NPF Healthcare priced $250 million of a two-year floating-rate series 2001-2 deal via the lead of Credit Suisse First Boston, which priced right on the screws of guidance. Also, $201.877 million of timeshare receivables-backed notes from Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc., priced via the lead of Credit Suisse First Boston.
