New York, June 22, 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Prime-1 (sf) rating to
the Series B Asset-Backed Commercial Paper ("Series B Notes") issued
by Ridgefield Funding Company, LLC ("Ridgefield").
The complete rating as follows:
Issuer: Ridgefield Funding Company, LLC
Series B Commercial Paper Notes, Assigned P-1 (sf)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The Prime-1 (sf) rating assigned to the Series B Notes issued by
Ridgefield is based on, among other factors, the following:
(i) the guarantee provided by a Prime-1 rated bank, that
fully supports repayment obligations under the repurchase agreement funded
by the Series B Notes; (ii) the structural protections to ensure
the bankruptcy-remote structure of Ridgefield and its Dedicated
Companies; (iii) the experience and capabilities of Guggenheim Treasury
Services LLC ("Guggenheim Treasury") as the conduit Manager
to provide day-to-day administrative services to Ridgefield
and ensure timely issuance and repayment of the Series B Notes and (iv)
the experience and capability of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas
as the Depositary to provide day-to-day depositary and issuing
and paying agency services to Ridgefield and to ensure timely issuance
and repayment of the Series B Notes.
The Prime-1 (sf) rating of the Ridgefield's Series B Notes
is highly dependent on the guarantor's Prime-1 rating.
A change in the guarantor's short term commercial paper rating would
likely result in a change in the rating assigned to the Series B Notes.
Ridgefield is a fully supported, prior review commercial paper program
sponsored by The Liberty Hampshire Company, LLC ("Liberty Hampshire",
NR) and administered by Guggenheim Treasury. Guggenheim Treasury
is also the administrator for a number of other CP programs rated Prime-1
(sf) by Moody's, including Bennington Stark Capital Company,
LLC, Cedar Springs Capital Company, LLC, Crown Point
Capital Company, LLC, Concord Minutemen Capital Company,
LLC, Legacy Capital Company, LLC, and Lexington Parker
Capital Company, LLC.
Ridgefield may issue different series of US notes and use the proceeds
to make match-funded loans to bankruptcy-remote purchasing
companies ("Dedicated Companies"). Each Dedicated Company
will enter into a repurchase agreement with a counterparty and use the
proceeds from the loans to purchase assets under the repurchase agreement.
The maturity of the loans and notes for each series are matched to the
repurchase dates of their respective repurchase agreement. A guarantee
by a Prime-1 rated bank covers the repurchase price under the repurchase
agreement if the repurchase counterparty fails to pay.
There will be no comingling of funds between the series, and investors
of one series of notes will not have an interest in any other series of
notes. There is no limit on the authorized issuance of the Series
B Notes.
The Series B Note issued by Ridgefield is commercial paper with a tenor
no more than 397 days. Notes may be issued at a discount or on
an interest bearing basis, which, in turn may be based on
a fixed rate or floating rate of interest. Additionally Ridgefield
has the ability to issue callable, puttable and callable/puttable
notes.
Series Liquidity Facility
The Series B Notes are supported through a fully supported repurchase
agreement guaranteed by a Prime-1-rated financial institution.
The commitment under the repurchase agreement is equal to the face amount
of commercial paper plus all rate hedging obligations associated with
Series B. The support facility is available to fund 100%
of Ridgefield's outstanding Series B Notes.
The reference point for the Series B liquidity support is the commercial
paper rating of the support provider, which is currently Prime-1.
Parties to the Program
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (A3(cr) /Prime-2(cr)) acts
as Depositary. All funds not needed to repay ABCP will be invested
in permitted investments. No cash will be held by the Depositary
overnight.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Approach to
Rating Asset-Backed Commercial Paper" published in July 2015.
Please see the Ratings Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Factors that would lead to a downgrade of the rating:
The Prime-1 (sf) rating of Ridgefield's Series B Notes is
highly dependent on the support provider's Prime-1 rating,
in that a downgrade of the support provider's commercial paper rating
may result in a corresponding downgrade of the Series B Notes.
Downgrade depends on Moody's future rating actions on the relevant support
provider. Moody's will continue to monitor the appropriate reference
point for the support provider, as well as the relevant rating or
assessment, as applicable.
No cash flow analyses or stress scenarios have been conducted, because
the rating was primarily derived from the rating of the support provider.
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.
Further information on the representations and warranties and enforcement
mechanisms available to investors are available on http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_1030927
Moody's did not use any models, or loss or cash flow analysis,
in its analysis.
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 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.
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.
Katrina Wong
Associate Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Lisa Singman
VP - Sr Credit Officer/Manager
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's assigns Prime-1 (sf) rating to Series B issued by Ridgefield Funding Company, LLC