PriceWaterhouseCoopers Mexico (PWC Mexico), the largest accounting, auditing, and consulting firm in Mexico, has hit the private placement market with a securitization of building and technology leases which pierced the sovereign ceiling with a BBB rating from Fitch.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. arranged the $54.15 million MCM Mexico Lease Finance Trust I-2001, which issued fixed rate notes with a final maturity in 2016 and an average life of nine years. The transaction is structured as pass-through triple-net lease payments, obligating PWC Mexico to make payments to the trust without limitation.
The structure of the deal, in conjunction with PWC's ability to pay the lease obligation and the transfer and convertibility risk protection in the deal, enabled Fitch to provide a rating higher than Mexico's BB+ sovereign rating.
