New Conduit CMBS Secured by San Diego Mall

Wells Fargo and RBS is marketing a $1 billion commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) known as WFRBS 2013-C16. The largest single loan is for $100 million and is secured by Westfield Mission Valley, a mall in San Diego, Calfornia that has a handful of anchor stores, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Nordstrom Rack.

The deal is backed by a total of 86 fixed-rate commercial mortgage loans that are, in turn, secured by 144 properties. Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary 'AAA(sf)' ratings to seven tranches, adding up to roughly $833 million.

While the properties are spread across 33 states, California is home to 17.5% of them and Georgina accounts for 12%. Kroll pointed out that there is also concentration in terms of property type, with 32.3% falling under the ‘retail’ rubric. The loans come from six originators: Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Scotland, Liberty Island Group, C-III Commercial Mortgage, Basis Real Estate Capital II, and NCB, FSB.

Kroll’s estimates of the loan-to-value ratio for the pool is 92.8%. None of the loans are cross-collateralized or cross-defaulted.

Standard & Poor’s last week warned that quality was softening in conduit CMBS. But S&P – along with Trepp – also reported that delinquencies in the asset class dropped again in August.

Wells Fargo Securities and RBS are the deal's joint bookrunners; Deutsche Bank Securities is co-manager.

The deal launches Tuesday and is expected to price by the end of the week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.