Greenpoint Financial Corp. may postpone issuing its fifth securitization of manufactured housing collateral, according to Chuck Richardson, new head of securitization at the firm, as sloppy market conditions have made spreads unattractive for issuers, particularly those residing in the mortgage-related sectors.
"The market right now does not seem rational to us," Richardson said. "Credit spreads need to show signs of rational behavior, and then we'll be in the market."
Richardson confirmed that the company had planned to sell manufactured housing-backed bonds around this time, but backed off when spreads started softening a number of weeks ago.
"We try and maintain a calendar where we provide the fixed income market with regular product, though we're relatively new at it," Richardson said. "Yet if the market doesn't provide an opportunity for us, we'll fund it ourselves."
Greenpoint Financial had become a regular issuer since entering the market late in 1998. After its first $727.7 million transaction in 1998, the company followed with three securitizations in 1999 that landed within four months of each other, between February and May this year. Currently, a $4.6 billion shelf has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to fund the company's transactions for the "next year or so."
Though for now Greenpoint will remain on the sidelines, Richardson said the company would pull the trigger on a deal if conditions firmed up. He would not comment on structural details, but deal size has historically hovered in the $800 million range.
Lehman Brothers led the company's last deal; Bear, Stearns & Co. led the time before that; and Salomon Smith Barney and Credit Suisse First Boston have played managing or co-managing roles in all of the company's offerings thus far.
