$622 million of asset-backed securities rated
New York, April 15, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned definitive ratings of Aaa (sf)
to the Class A notes of the Series 2015-1 Rental Car Asset-Backed
Notes issued by Hertz Vehicle Financing II LP (HVF II, or the Issuer).
Moody's had not previously assigned provisional ratings to the notes.
The Class A notes have an expected maturity of approximately five years
and are supported by Class B notes and Class C notes, which are
unrated and subordinate to the Class A notes. HVF II is a special
purpose limited partnership and a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary
of The Hertz Corporation (Hertz; B1 corporate family rating and probability
of default rating, with a stable outlook). HVF II will be
Hertz's primary rental car securitization platform in the U.S.
going forward.
The complete rating action is as follows:
Issuer: Hertz Vehicle Financing II LP
Series 2015-1 Class A, Assigned Aaa (sf)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating on the Series 2015-1 Class A notes is based on (1) the
collateral in the form of rental fleet vehicles, which Hertz uses
in its rental car business under brand names Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty,
(2) the credit quality of Hertz as lease payment guarantor, (3)
the available credit enhancement, (4) the legal structure,
(5) the experience of Hertz as the servicer of the rental fleet vehicles
and the administrator for HVF II.
The Series 2015-1 Class A notes benefit from credit enhancement
in the form of overcollateralization, subordination of the Class
B notes and Class C notes, and letter of credits sized to cover
at least six months' interest plus 50 basis points of expenses.
Required credit enhancement for the Series 2015-1 Class A notes,
sized as a percentage of total assets, is a blended rate,
which is a function of Moody's ratings on the vehicle manufacturers
and defined asset categories as described below:
» 10.00% for eligible program vehicle and receivable
amount from investment grade manufacturers (any manufacturer that has
Moody's long-term rating or senior unsecured rating or long-term
corporate family rating (together, "Relevant
Moody's Ratings") of at least "Baa3" and any manufacturer
that does not have a Relevant Moody's Rating and has a senior unsecured
debt rating from Moody's of at least "Ba1")
» 23.25% for eligible non-investment grade program
vehicle amount from non-investment grade manufacturers;
» 17.50% for eligible non-program vehicle amount
from investment grade manufacturers
» 23.25% for eligible non-program vehicle amount
from non-investment grade manufacturers
» 23.25% for eligible non-program receivable
amount from non-investment grade (high) manufacturers (any manufacturer
that (i) is not an investment grade manufacturer and (ii) has a Relevant
Moody's Rating of at least "Ba3"
» 100.00% for eligible non-program receivable
amount from non-investment grade (low) manufacturers (any manufacturer
that has a Relevant Moody's Rating of less than "Ba3")
» 0.00% for cash amount
Consequently, the actual required amount of credit enhancement fluctuates
based on the mix of vehicles and receivables in the securitized fleet.
The required total enhancement must include a minimum portion which is
liquid (in cash and/or letter of credit), sized as a percentage
of the total assets. The Class A notes also benefit from subordination
provided by the Class B notes and Class C notes representing 20%
of the outstanding Series 2015-1 note balance.
Finally, consistent with our methodology, for this transaction
we assume a purchase price for program vehicles 10% below MSRP,
to give credit to the volume discounts typically achieved by rental car
companies. We also assume the discount for non-program (risk)
vehicles is 10% to reflect historical performance.
Methodology Underlying the Rating Action:
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Global Approach
to Rating Rental Car ABS and Rental Truck ABS" published in July 2011.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Factors that would lead to a downgrade of the rating:
Moody's could downgrade the ratings of the Series 2015-1 Class
A notes if (1) the likelihood of the sponsor defaulting were to increase,
as reflected by a downgrade of the sponsor's credit rating, (2)
the likelihood of bankruptcy for one or more of the original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) of the vehicles collateralizing the transaction were
to increase, as reflected by a downgrade of that OEM's credit rating,
(3) the share of vehicles collateralizing the transaction that are purchased
from low-rated, financially weaker OEMs were to increase
relative to Moody's expectations, or (4) the residual values of
the non-program vehicles collateralizing the transaction were to
decline materially relative to Moody's expectations.
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.
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 in this transaction.
The analysis relies on a Monte Carlo simulation that generates a large
number of collateral loss or cash flow scenarios, which on average
meet key metrics Moody's determines based on its assessment of the
collateral characteristics. Moody's then evaluates each simulated
scenario using model that replicates the relevant structural features
and payment allocation rules of the transaction, to derive losses
or payments for each rated instrument. The average loss a rated
instrument incurs in all of the simulated collateral loss or cash flow
scenarios, which Moody's weights based on its assumptions
about the likelihood of events in such scenarios actually occurring,
results in the expected loss of the rated instrument.
Moody's quantitative analysis entails an evaluation of scenarios
that stress factors contributing to sensitivity of ratings and take into
account the likelihood of severe collateral losses or impaired cash flows.
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.
Jiang Xu
Asst Vice President - 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
Luisa De Gaetano
Senior Vice President
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 definitive ratings to Hertz rental car ABS