Sallie Mae Prices $676M Private SLABS

Sallie Mae priced its first private student loan securitization of 2014 this week.  

The $676 million Series 2014-A notes are rated by Standard & Poor’s.  The ‘AAA’-rated, floating-rate class A-1 notes priced at 60 basis points over one-month Libor, according to Interactive Data.

The floating-rate class A-2B, also rated ‘AAA’, priced at 115 basis points over one-month Libor. Pricing details on the floating rate A-3 tranche were not available.

The fixed –rate, ‘AAA’-rated, class A-2A notes priced at swaps plus 115 basis points and the fixed rate ‘A’-rated class B notes priced at swaps plus 225 basis points.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse are the lead underwriters on the deal.

Loans included in the pool have a weighted average FICO score of 742 at the time of the loan application, and 81.90% of the loans are co-signed, according to the presale report.

By comparison, Sallie Mae’s last private loan securitization deal issued in September 2013 had a weighted average FICO score of 740 at loan origination and 81% of the loans are co-signed. Loans that are not co-signed and have lower FICOs, generally have a higher rate of default.

However the floating rate, triple-A's on the September deal, priced at 85 basis points over one month Libor and the fixed rate triple-A's priced at swaps plus 85 basis points. The single-A rated, class B notes on the other hand priced wider at swaps plus 275.