Bristol & West, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ireland, recently saw its first residential mortgage-backed securitization delayed by the U.K. regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority. The GBP300 million ($433.9 million) transaction, called Shipshape Residential Mortgages No.1, had been due at the start of October but following the delay was set to price as ASRI went to press. ING Barings was brought in as lead manager.
Neither ING, Bristol & West or the FSA were prepared to comment on why the deal was put back, although one unsubstantiated rumor doing the rounds was that it was simply a result of a job reshuffle at the FSA which needed to be resolved before approval could be given.
The transaction is backed a portfolio of just over 8,000 loans originated in England and Wales by Bristol and West with an outstanding loan balance of GBP383.2 million. The current average weighted loan-to-value stands at 72% with an average seasoning of 48.7 months.
The deal has been split into three floating rate tranches. The GBP285 million A notes, provisionally rated AAA by Fitch, carry 3.8-year average lives and pricing is expected to be between 23 and 25 basis points over three month Libor. Also included is the A-rated GBP9 million B tranche and GBP6 million of C notes, rated BBB by Fitch.
Credit enhancement of 5.6% for the A notes comes from subordination on the B and C tranches as well as a cash reserve, funded by a subordinated loan provided by Bristol & West.
