Approximately $77.1 Million of Structured Securities Affected
New York, June 22, 2018 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has
upgraded the ratings on three classes, affirmed the ratings on three
classes and downgraded the ratings on one class in Wamu Commercial Mortgage
Securities Trust 2007-SL2, Pass-Through Certificates,
Series 2007-SL2 as follows:
Cl. B, Upgraded to Aa1 (sf); previously on Jun 2,
2017 Affirmed Aa3 (sf)
Cl. C, Upgraded to A3 (sf); previously on Jun 2,
2017 Affirmed Baa2 (sf)
Cl. D, Upgraded to Ba3 (sf); previously on Jun 2,
2017 Affirmed B1 (sf)
Cl. E, Affirmed Caa1 (sf); previously on Jun 2,
2017 Affirmed Caa1 (sf)
Cl. F, Affirmed Caa3 (sf); previously on Jun 2,
2017 Affirmed Caa3 (sf)
Cl. G, Affirmed C (sf); previously on Jun 2, 2017
Affirmed C (sf)
Cl. X, Downgraded to Ca (sf); previously on Jun 9,
2017 Downgraded to Caa3 (sf)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The ratings on three P&I classes, Cl. B, Cl.
C and Cl. D, were upgraded based primarily on an increase
in credit support resulting from loan paydowns and amortization.
The deal has paid down 24% since Moody's last review.
The ratings on three P&I classes, Cl. E, Cl.
F and Cl. G, were affirmed because the transaction's
key metrics, including Moody's loan-to-value (LTV)
ratio, Moody's stressed debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) and the
transaction's Herfindahl Index (Herf), are within acceptable
ranges.
The rating on the IO Class, Cl. X, was downgraded due
to the decline in the credit quality of its reference classes resulting
from principal paydowns of higher quality reference classes.
Moody's rating action reflects a base expected loss of 9.5%
of the current balance, compared to 10.1% at Moody's
last review. Moody's base expected loss plus realized losses is
now 4.6% of the original pooled balance, essentially
the same as at last review. Moody's provides a current list of
base expected losses for conduit and fusion CMBS transactions on moodys.com
at http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF215255.
FACTORS THAT WOULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS:
The performance expectations for a given variable indicate Moody's forward-looking
view of the likely range of performance over the medium term. Performance
that falls outside the given range can indicate that the collateral's
credit quality is stronger or weaker than Moody's had previously expected.
Factors that could lead to an upgrade of the ratings include a significant
amount of loan paydowns or amortization, an increase in the pool's
share of defeasance or an improvement in pool performance.
Factors that could lead to a downgrade of the ratings include a decline
in the performance of the pool, loan concentration, an increase
in realized and expected losses from specially serviced and troubled loans
or interest shortfalls.
METHODOLOGY UNDERLYING THE RATING ACTION
The principal methodology used in rating Wamu Commercial Mortgage Securities
Trust 2007-SL2, Cl. B, Cl. C, Cl.
D. Cl. E, Cl. F and Cl. G was "Approach
to Rating US and Canadian Conduit/Fusion CMBS" published in July 2017.
The methodologies used in rating Wamu Commercial Mortgage Securities Trust
2007-SL2, Cl. X were "Approach to Rating US and Canadian
Conduit/Fusion CMBS" published in July 2017 and "Moody's Approach to Rating
Structured Finance Interest-Only (IO) Securities" published in
June 2017. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
DEAL PERFORMANCE
As of the May 25, 2018 distribution date, the transaction's
aggregate certificate balance has decreased by 91% to $77.1
million from $842.1 million at securitization. The
certificates are collateralized by 118 mortgage loans ranging in size
from less than 1% to 4.6% of the pool, with
the top ten loans (excluding defeasance) constituting 24.5%
of the pool.
Moody's uses a variation of Herf to measure the diversity of loan
sizes, where a higher number represents greater diversity.
Loan concentration has an important bearing on potential rating volatility,
including the risk of multiple notch downgrades under adverse circumstances.
The credit neutral Herf score is 40. The pool has a Herf of 74,
compared to 78 at Moody's last review.
Twenty-eight loans, constituting 29% of the pool,
are on the master servicer's watchlist. The watchlist includes
loans that meet certain portfolio review guidelines established as part
of the CRE Finance Council (CREFC) monthly reporting package. As
part of Moody's ongoing monitoring of a transaction, the agency
reviews the watchlist to assess which loans have material issues that
could affect performance.
Sixty-eight loans have been liquidated from the pool, resulting
in an aggregate realized loss of $31.8 million (for an average
loss severity of 44%). Two loans, constituting 2%
of the pool, are currently in special servicing. The specially
serviced loans are secured by a multifamily and mixed use property types.
Moody's has also assumed a high default probability for 17 poorly performing
loans, constituting 21% of the pool, and has estimated
an aggregate loss of $6.3 million (a 35% expected
loss on average) from these specially serviced and troubled loans.
Moody's received full year 2016 operating results for 85% of the
pool, and full or partial year 2017 operating results for 56%
of the pool (excluding specially serviced and defeased loans).
Moody's weighted average conduit LTV is 78%, compared to
86% at Moody's last review. Moody's conduit component excludes
loans with structured credit assessments, defeased and CTL loans,
and specially serviced and troubled loans. Moody's net cash flow
(NCF) reflects a weighted average haircut of 11.5% to the
most recently available net operating income (NOI). Moody's value
reflects a weighted average capitalization rate of 9.2%.
Moody's actual and stressed conduit DSCRs are 1.84X and 1.46X,
respectively, compared to 1.84X and 1.31X at the last
review. Moody's actual DSCR is based on Moody's NCF and the loan's
actual debt service. Moody's stressed DSCR is based on Moody's
NCF and a 9.25% stress rate the agency applied to the loan
balance.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and sensitivity
analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity
to Assumptions of the disclosure form.
The analysis includes an assessment of collateral characteristics and
performance to determine the expected collateral loss or a range of expected
collateral losses or cash flows to the rated instruments. As a
second step, Moody's estimates expected collateral losses or cash
flows using a quantitative tool that takes into account credit enhancement,
loss allocation and other structural features, to derive the expected
loss for each rated instrument.
Moody's did not use any stress scenario simulations in its analysis.
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 credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to
each particular credit 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 credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit 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.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Lacey Morgan
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Matthew Halpern
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653