GM Financial Prices Subprime Auto Loan Securitization

GM Financial priced $1.1 billion of benchmark subprime auto loan backed securities on Wednesday.

AmeriCredit Automobile Receivables Trust (AMCAR) 2015-1 issued eight classes of notes rated by DBRS and Moody's Investors Service, according to a regulatory filing. The largest class, $292.39 million of triple-A notes with a weighted average life of 2.2 years, yields 50 basis points over interpolated swaps, or 1.27%.

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securties are the lead undewriters.

The transaction is backed by a pool of loans that, while subprime, are of higher credit quality than some recent transactions. The borrowers have a weighted average AmeriCredit score of 245, compared with around 240 for deals completed in late 2013 and early 2014. The loans backing the deal have a weighted average original term of 71 months and only one month of seasoning.

Last year, GM issued four subprime loan transactions totaling $4.2 billion from its AMCAR trust. The most recent one, AMCAR 2014-4, has a 2.2-year class that yield 47 basis points over interpolated swaps, or 1.27%.  

Spreads on senior subprime bonds have been under pressure from concerns about weakening quality of auto loans and regulatory issues. GM Financial , for example, is being probed by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Departement of Justice on its subprime origination and securitization practices