FleetBoston Financial Corp. will likely tap the home-equity market for the first time since Fleet Bank merged with BankBoston, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
The filing describes a trust that can issue up to $1 billion in both notes and certificates. FleetBoston had nearly $5 billion in home-equity loans outstanding at the end of the third quarter 2000.
Prior to the merger of Fleet and BankBoston, both banks had issued public home-equity ABS, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data. Fleet brought two deals to market in the early 1990s, both managed by First Boston (now CSFB). BankBoston brought two home-equity deals in 1998. The bank co-managed its own deal with Lehman Brothers.
Fleet and BankBoston merged late in 1999, and since then the combined entity has been a regular in the credit card market, bringing four deals last year for approximately $2.7 billion in proceeds, according to TFSD. The bank has also been a major player in the collateralized debt obligation sector, having recently priced a landmark all-distressed debt CLO (see story page one).
