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WFN returning to ABS market

On the sidelines since 1999, WFN Credit Company is looking to tap the ABS market sometime this summer, with a deal backed by private-label credit card accounts from approximately 50 different retail clients, for store purchases including softgoods, lumber, furniture and electronics.

WFN, which plans to tap the market on a yearly basis, has chosen J.P. Morgan Chase for lead manager. The deal is expected to be worth approximately $500 million, and will be structured as three classes of floating-rate notes, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The accounts are currently housed by World Financial Network National Bank.

WFN has been in the market four times since first securitizing in 1996.

The series 1999-A, which closed in September of that year, was worth $615 million. Chase Securities was lead manager on the three-part deal. The triple-A's priced at 33 basis points over Libor, while the B class notes and C class notes priced at 80 and 128 over Libor, respectively.

WFN has been acquiring private-label credit card portfolios since 1996, when it bought the $385 million portfolio of National City Bank of Columbus, which spawned WFN's securitization program. The firm did no deals between 1996 and 1999.

WFN is a subsidiary of Alliance Data Systems Corporation.

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