With receivables topping just over $1 billion as of March 31, near-prime card issuer CompuCredit Corp. has set the date for its debut term-securitization, the first in a planned program of regular issuance, said CompuCredit Treasurer Ashley Johnson.
Via lead manager Banc of America Securities, CompuCredit will come to market in late June with a $300 million to $500 million private placement, structured in accordance with rule 144A.
"We're either going to do a monoline wrap or a senior-sub structure," said Johnson, adding that the company is planning to meet with the sureties in the next couple of weeks.
Though CompuCredit is planning a pattern of regular issuance, the Atlanta-based company doesn't plan to hit the public term market until 2002, Johnson said.
"What we'd like to do is probably two deals this year, and continue to issue on a quarterly basis in 2001, and then potentially look at the public market in 2002," Johnson said.
CompuCredit recently signed an agreement with Fleet Credit Card Services in which near-prime customers who don't qualify for Fleet's prime borrower credit-criteria will potentially receive an offer from CompuCredit's card line: Aspire.
Johnson said that CompuCredit has been in a similar, confidential agreement with another prime-credit card originator since January.
Currently, CompuCredit is adding between 100 thousand and 125 thousand accounts to its portfolio each month. With the business generated through the partnerships with Fleet and the other undisclosed issuer, CompuCredit hopes to add another 25 thousand accounts each month towards the end of the year.
Also recently, CompuCredit acquired Citadel Group, a fee-based product marketing service, which the company hopes will increase the quality of its product, and offer better consumer privacy.
Interestingly, CompuCredit's decision to run with Banc of America is a confirmed instance of an issuer changing lead managers due to the management migrations that plagued the asset-backed industry earlier this year. CompuCredit was originally working with Credit Suisse First Boston under Jorge Calderon's regime.
However, Banc of America and CompuCredit have been working together with the company's conduit facility/master trust for several years.
"They provided us with our first securitization in 1997," Johnson said. "We have a long standing relationship with Banc of America."
