London, 10 April 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has today confirmed the ratings of Leek Finance
Number Seventeen PLC, Leek Finance Number Eighteen PLC, Leek
Finance Number Nineteen PLC and Leek Finance Number Twenty PPLC (The "Issuers")
following the decision to replace The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC ("RBS")
with Bank of New York Mellon ("BNYM", Aa1/P-1) as new GIC
Provider.
See towards the end of the ratings rationale section of this press release
for a detailed list of affected ratings:
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's has assessed the change in counterparty and the amendments to
the documentation in each transaction that the Issuers has elected to
amend as a result of the downgrade of Royal Bank of Scotland PLC to A3/P-2.
Moody's has assessed the probability and impact of a default of BNYM on
the ability of the Issuer to meet its obligations under each transaction,
including the impact of the loss of any cash held by BNYM should it default
and any loss that may be incurred after that time due to any delay in
redirecting payments to new accounts or taking any other appropriate action.
This rating action concludes the review of Leek Finance Number Seventeen
PLC, Leek Finance Number Eighteen PLC, Leek Finance Number
Nineteen PLC and Leek Finance Number Twenty PLC transactions placed on
review on 14 November 2012, following Moody's revision of increased
counterparty risk arising from (1) indirect linkages to issuer account
banks that were downgraded below Prime-1 during Q2 2012; and
(2) the lack of structural protection to reduce their linkages to these
downgraded banks.
Moody's has not changed the expected loss assumption and the MILAN number
for any of the revised transactions given that performance is still in
line with expectations as of the latest rating review time. The
rating action has been primarily driven by the decrease in counterparty
risk arising from the de-linkage to issuer account banks.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Moody's Approach to
Rating RMBS Using the MILAN Framework published in March 2013.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Other Factors used in these ratings are described in The Temporary Use
of Cash in Structured Finance Transactions: Eligible Investment
and Bank Guidelines published in March 2013.
Key modeling assumptions, sensitivities, cash-flow
analysis and stress scenarios for the affected transactions have not been
updated as the rating announcement has been primarily driven by the assessment
of counterparty exposure.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
Issuer: Leek Finance Number Seventeen PLC
....GBP270M A2a Notes, Confirmed at
Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....US$462M A2b Notes, Confirmed
at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR365M A2c Notes, Confirmed at
Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: Leek Finance Number Eighteen PLC
....GBP171.1M A2a Notes, Confirmed
at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....US$475M A2b Notes, Confirmed
at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR128M A2c Notes, Confirmed at
Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....US$350M A2d Notes, Confirmed
at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: Leek Finance Number Nineteen PLC
....GBP110M A2a Notes, Confirmed at
Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....US$624.1M A2b Notes,
Confirmed at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR124.5M A2c Notes, Confirmed
at Aaa (sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: Leek Finance Number Twenty PLC
....GBP1489M A Notes, Confirmed at Aaa
(sf); previously on Nov 14, 2012 Aaa (sf) Placed Under Review
for Possible Downgrade
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Moody's did not receive or take into account a third-party
assessment on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets
or financial instruments related to the monitoring of these transactions
in the past six months.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Lyudmila Udot
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Michelangelo Margaria
VP - Senior Analyst/Manager
Structured Finance Group
Telephone:+39-02-9148-1100
Alberto Barbachano
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's Investors Service has confirmed the ratings of UK RMBS Leek Finance Number 17,18, 19 and 20 PLC