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U.K.'s Paragon Contemplates New Issue

Paragon Group U.K. has asked UBS to arrange a roadshow for investors where the firm can talk about updating its strategy for its mortgage program, according to market reports.

The meetings are set for February, but are not related to marketing of a specific deal. The Financial Times reported today that Paragon is hopeful it can increase its buy-to–let lending.

New business from the group's buy-to-let brands Paragon Mortgages and Mortgage Trust, has been restricted since February 2008 and is currently limited to further advances to existing borrowers where there is adequate equity in the property.

According to Paragon’s annual results the number of completions shrunk to 487 last year compared with 7,249 a year earlier and reached a total of £25.2 million ($40.6 million) compared with £903.9m in 2008.

However, Paragon said it continued to finance buy-to-let and secured consumer finance further advances through its current securitization arrangements, and was hopeful things were looking up.

"Significant progress has been seen in the securitization markets in recent months with credit spreads having tightened to a level where residential mortgage backed security issuance has once again become a reasonable source of term financing for a number of financial institutions,” the Paragon annual report said. "While current new issuance costs appear expensive compared with pricing levels before the credit crunch, when compared with current mortgage pricing they now provide a reasonable net margin for the lender. We are monitoring developments in the securitization markets carefully as we look for appropriate market conditions to support new Paragon issuance.”

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