Ford Motor Finance is prepping $300 million of bonds backed by dealer inventory financing, according to rating agency reports.
J.P. Morgan is the lead underwriter.
Auto floorplan financing allows dealers to finance their inventory, repaying the line as the vehicles are sold.
Ford Credit Floorplan Master Owner Trust A, Series 2015-3 will issue a single tranche of seven-year floating-rate securities with preliminary triple-A ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.
The notes benefit from credit enhancement of 24.27%; that’s down marginally from 24.38% in 2015-1 and 2015-2, according to Fitch. The reserve account totals 0.77% of the initial collateral balance, also down marginally from 0.88% in prior 2014-2015 series.
The notes are backed by credit lines extended primarily to dealers franchised by Ford Motor Co. selling Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles.
Among key ratings drivers cited by Fitch in its presale report are the consistent quality of receivables, limited asset concentration and a strong dealer network. Approximately 92.6% of the portfolio finances new cars and 7.4% finances used vehicles. The used vehicle concentration is consistent with Ford Credit’s dealer floorplan portfolio. Used vehicle exposure is limited to 20% of the issuer’s master trust.
The receivables are also geographically diverse and have strong collateral aging with only 5.3% of the trust inventory aged past 270 days as of March 31. Dealers are subject to concentration limits, offsetting the risk individual dealer defaults and losses. Also, the majority of these dealers were profitable in early 2015.
