Spanish airline Iberia returned to the European market recently with a deal backed by a portfolio of 18 new aircraft. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter arranged the E496.5 million ($582.7 million) deal, called Iberbond 2000, and employed an enhanced equipment trust certificate structure. The structure transfers the planes into an SPV, leases them back to Iberia, and revenues from those leases are used to pay bondholders.
Credit Lyonnaise was brought in as lead manager on the transaction, with support coming from MSDW and Tokyo Mitsubishi International as the co-leads.
The floating rate E401.1 million A notes, rated AA2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by Fitch, have 5.2-year average lives and carry a spread of 55 basis points over six month Libor. The subordinated E95.6 million B tranche, rated A1 and A, pays a 6.185% fixed rate coupon and carry 5.2 years average lives.
Over in Belgium, KBC Bank last week launched a E250 million securitization from its portfolio of car and vehicle loans. The deal, called Car Loan Invest-1, was arranged by KBC and was the second issue from the bank this year. Merrill Lynch was brought in to run the syndicate desk alongside KBC.
The transaction was split into two floating rate tranches. The senior A tranche, rated Aaa by Moody's and AAA by Fitch, has a 3.8-year average life with a spread of 26 basis points over three-month Euribor. The junior E12.5 million B notes, rated A2 and A, have the same average lives as the senior notes and pay a coupon of 65 over.
Still in the Low Countries, Achmea Bank of the Netherlands closed a E1 billion securitization of residential mortgages. CIBC World Markets arranged the deal, called Dutch Mortgage Portfolio Loans 1, and also led the syndicate, aided by co-lead Rabobank.
The deal included two senior tranches, one floating rate and the other fixed, which were rated triple-A by all the three major rating agencies. The spread on the E510 million floating rate A1 notes is 26 basis points over three-month Euribor and the E435 million A2 tranche will pay a coupon of 6.2%. The E35 million mezzanine tranche - rated A1 by Moody's and A by Fitch and Standard & Poor's - pays 75 over. The E20 million triple-B-rated junior C notes were privately placed.
