Volkswagen Finance has completed what it is billing as the largest Spanish auto loan securitization since the financial crisis.
Driver Espana three issued €858 million of class A notes rated ‘AA+’ by Standard & Poor’s and ‘Aa2’ by Moody’s Investors Service that pay one-month Euribor plus 105 basis points.
This tranche was originally sized at €643.5 million, according to rating agency reports.
However, a subordinate tranche of class B notes, originally sized at €21.7 million and rated ‘A+’ by S&P, was not put on offer, according to a press release issued Wednesday.
The notes are backed by 120,000 Volkswagen-originated loans to retail and small-commercial segments in Spain, according to a presale from Standard & Poor’s. Contracts for new vehicles make up around 83%of this figure, while 17% were used to purchase used cars.
The senior notes benefit from overcollateralization and subordination of the class B notes and an unrated loan retained by Volkswagen Finance.
Driver Espana three is Volkswagen Finance’s third public securitization in Spain. It was marketed by the lead Managers BNP Paribas, Citigroup, and Volkswagen Financial Services AG
About 34% of the underlying pool by volume financed cars equipped with diesel engines that were affected by the company’s manipulation of exhaust emissions, according to S&P. In its presale report, the rating agency said it had taken this into account when calculating the potential resale value of these cars.
An investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency prompted Volkwagen to admit last September that is had doctored emissions test on millions of cars worldwide.
A tad over 95% of underlying borrowers in DRIVER ESPANA THREE are consumers; companies account for the remaining share.
Volkswage is an active securitizer in the European auto market.
S&P said that the company’s “track record of stable, strong-quality asset origination is among the best of all European auto ABS originators.”
