Though the Canadian asset-backed market is currently experiencing the summer doldrums, the pipeline is full with transactions lined up for the fall.
A couple of commercial mortgage-backed deals are in the works with Merrill Lynch Canada prepping a deal and TD Bank entering the ranks of CMBS issuers, a move likely to happen in September or October.
TD Securities will lead the bank's CMBS offering. Aside from this deal, TD Securities is also working on another ABS transaction slated to come to market sometime in the fall and is due to launch a new asset-backed commercial paper conduit in the near term.
TD Bank will be joining Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), which is another Canadian bank that has been doing CMBS. CIBC issued approximately C$1 billion in commercial paper through three transactions last year. In an earlier report, bank officials said that CIBC's future securitization activity will largely depend on the economics of the country's CMBS market (see ASR 6/5/00).
Along with its CMBS deal, Merrill Lynch is rumored to be working on an asset-backed offering that has to do with Retirement Compensation Arrangements (RCAs). RCAs are used to fund excess pension benefits that a company has agreed to pay its employees. Market sources say this may take the form of a term deal. Officials from the company declined to comment.
