Downgrades follow Alpha Bank rating downgrade
London, 28 September 2011 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded to B2 (sf) from Ba3 (sf)
the ratings of three structured finance transactions originated by Alpha
Bank AE (Alpha, rated Caa2, Non-Prime): Irida
Plc, Katanalotika Plc and Epihiro Plc. A detailed list of
the rating actions is provided at the end of this press release.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's downgrades follow the 23 September 2011 downgrade of Greek banks,
including Alpha ("Moody's downgrades the ratings of Greek
banks, concluding review initiated 25 July 2011".)
and concludes the rating review for all three transactions.
Moody's had placed the ratings of all three transactions on review
for downgrade as a result of the rating review of Alpha due to high rating
linkage between these transaction and Alpha. This follows transaction
document amendments that resulted in higher linkage between the rating
of the notes in the affected transactions and those of Alpha. Through
amendments that were executed on 21 June 2011 (Epihiro and Katanolotika),
and 10 August 2011 (Irida), the issuer accounts, including
the reserve funds, were moved to Alpha from Citibank (rated A1,
Prime-1).
Moody's rating approach has considered a similar probability of default
for the bank and for the notes in the three downgraded transactions.
However, the ratings of the notes are three notches above the bank's
rating, as they reflect a lower expected loss on the notes resulting
from their senior secured position. In particular, we have
considered the large amount of credit enhancement (40% to 50%)
that supports the rated notes in these transactions, mostly as a
result of the subordination of junior notes.
The considerations described in this press release complement the applicable
principal methodologies for each transaction.
The principal methodology used in rating Katanalotika PLC was Moody's
Approach to Rating Consumer Loan ABS Transactions published in July 2011.
The principal methodology used in rating Epihiro PLC was Moody's
Approach to Rating Corporate Collateralized Synthetic Obligations published
in September 2009. The principal methodology used in rating Irida
PLC was Moody's Approach to Rating CDOs of SMEs in Europe published
in February 2007. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
LIST OF AFFECTED TRANSACTIONS BY RELEASING OFFICE
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
Issuer: EPIHIRO PLC (Athena Project)
....EUR1623M Euro 1,623,000,000
Class A Asset Backed Floating Rate Notes due January 2035 Notes,
Downgraded to B2 (sf); previously on Jul 29, 2011 Ba3 (sf)
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: IRIDA PLC
....EUR261.1M A Notes, Downgraded
to B2 (sf); previously on Aug 18, 2011 Downgraded to Ba3 (sf)
and Remained On Review for Possible Downgrade
Releasing Office:
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
75008 Paris
France
Issuer: KATANALOTIKA PLC
....EUR1109.6M A Notes, Downgraded
to B2 (sf); previously on Jul 29, 2011 Ba3 (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
The lead analyst and rating office for each of the transactions affected
are generally different from the contact and office listed at the end
of this press release. For each transaction, the lead analyst
name is available on the issuer page and the rating office is available
on the ratings tab of the issuer on www.moodys.com.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant 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 relevant 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 relevant 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.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, public information, confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information, and
confidential and proprietary Moody's Analytics information.
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 this transaction
in the past six months.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses
in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not an auditor
and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information
received in the rating process.
Moody's Investors Service may have provided Ancillary or Other Permissible
Service(s) to the rated entity or its related third parties within the
three years preceding the credit rating action. Please see the
special report "Ancillary or other permissible services provided to entities
rated by MIS's EU credit rating agencies" on the ratings disclosure page
on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating Process
page on www.moodys.com for further information on the meaning
of each rating category and the definition of default and recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some ratings were first released goes back to a time
before Moody's ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not
be available. Consequently, Moody's provides a date that
it believes is the most reliable and accurate based on the information
that is available to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page
on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
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.
Ariel Weil
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's France SAS
96 Boulevard Haussmann
Paris 75008
France
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Carole Gintz
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 downgrades Greek Structured Finance transactions sponsored by Alpha Bank
