NOTE: On July 10, 2013, the press release was revised as follows: In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph of the Ratings Rationale section, corrected "Italian
receivables" to "Portuguese receivables." Revised release follows.
Frankfurt am Main, July 05, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded the ratings of three mezzanine
and one junior notes in two Portuguese residential mortgage-backed
securities (RMBS) transactions: Atlantes Mortgages No.1 Plc
and Azor Mortgages Public Limited Company. At the same time,
Moody's confirmed the rating of junior note in Atlantes Mortgages No.1
Plc. Insufficiency of credit enhancement to address sovereign risk
and counterparty exposure have prompted today's downgrade.
Today's rating action concludes the review of five notes placed on review
on 11 September 2012, following Moody's adjustment of the
Portuguese country ceiling to Baa3.
For a detailed list of affected ratings, see towards the end of
the ratings rationale section.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's rating action primarily reflects the insufficiency of credit enhancement
to address sovereign risk and counterparty exposure. Moody's confirmed
the ratings of securities whose credit enhancement and structural features
provided enough protection against sovereign and counterparty risk.
The determination of the applicable credit enhancement driving today's
rating actions reflects the introduction of additional factors in Moody's
analysis to better measure the impact of sovereign risk on structured
finance transactions (see "Structured Finance Transactions: Assessing
the Impact of Sovereign Risk", 11 March 2013). This report
is Available on www.moodys.com and can be accessed via the
following link: (http://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PBS_SF319988).
-- Additional Factors Better Reflect Increased Sovereign
Risk
Moody's has supplemented its analysis to determine the loss distribution
of securitised portfolios with two additional factors, the maximum
achievable rating in a given country (the Local Currency Country Risk
Ceiling) and the applicable portfolio credit enhancement for this rating.
With the introduction of these additional factors, Moody's intends
to better reflect increased sovereign risk in its quantitative analysis,
in particular for mezzanine and junior tranches.
The Portuguese country ceiling, and therefore the maximum rating
that Moody's will assign to a domestic Portuguese issuer including structured
finance transactions backed by Portuguese receivables, is Baa3.
Moody's Individual Loan Analysis Credit Enhancement (MILAN CE) represents
the required credit enhancement under the senior tranche for it to achieve
the country ceiling. By lowering the maximum achievable rating
for a given MILAN, the revised methodology alters the loss distribution
curve and implies an increased probability of high loss scenarios.
-- Exposure to Counterparty Risk
The downgrades of Class B notes in both transactions reflects the set-off
risks due to exposure to Banif SGPS SA (Caa1) acting as originator in
both deals. Majority of obligors have a deposit or current account
with the originator resulting in set-off exposure of 3.5%
in Atlantes Mortgages and 4.1% in Azor Mortgages.
Moody's took into account the presence of the Portuguese Government
deposit guarantee scheme as loan by loan data was provided by the originator.
Set-off exposure has been taken into account in the downgrade of
the notes by reducing the amount of available credit support with the
expected loss due to set-off.
The downgrades of Class C notes in both transaction reflects commingling
risk due to exposure to Banif SGPS SA (Caa1) acting as servicer in both
deals. Mortgages receipts in both deals are received into a collections
account with Deutsche Bank AG, London branch and are transferred
daily to the issuer account with Deutsche Bank AG. Despite these
mitigants Moody's' assumed that one month of collections will
be post upon Banif SGPS SA default.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS MAY NEGATIVELY AFFECT THE NOTES
In consideration of Moody's new adjustments, any further sovereign
downgrade would negatively affect structured finance ratings through the
application of the country ceiling or maximum achievable rating,
as well as potentially increased portfolio credit enhancement requirements
for a given rating.
As the euro area crisis continues, the ratings of structured finance
notes remain exposed to the uncertainties of credit conditions in the
general economy. The deteriorating creditworthiness of euro area
sovereigns as well as the weakening credit profile of the global banking
sector could further negatively affect the ratings of the notes.
The methodologies used in these ratings were Moody's Approach to Rating
RMBS Using the MILAN Framework published in May 2013 and The Temporary
Use of Cash in Structured Finance Transactions: Eligible Investment
and Bank Guidelines published in March 2013. Please see the Credit
Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of these methodologies.
In reviewing these transactions, Moody's used ABSROM to model the
cash flows and determine the loss for each tranche. The cash flow
model evaluates all default scenarios that are then weighted considering
the probabilities of the lognormal distribution assumed for the portfolio
default rate. In each default scenario, the corresponding
loss for each class of notes is calculated given the incoming cash flows
from the assets and the outgoing payments to third parties and noteholders.
Therefore, the expected loss or EL for each tranche is the sum product
of (i) the probability of occurrence of each default scenario; and
(ii) the loss derived from the cash flow model in each default scenario
for each tranche.
As such, Moody's analysis encompasses the assessment of stressed
scenarios.
In the context of the rating review, the transactions have been
remodelled and some inputs have been adjusted to reflect the new approach
described above.
LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS
Issuer: Atlantes Mortgages No.1 Plc
....EUR22.5M B Notes, Downgraded
to Ba2 (sf); previously on Sep 11, 2012 Ba1 (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR12.5M C Notes, Downgraded
to B3 (sf); previously on Sep 11, 2012 B2 (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR2.5M D Notes, Confirmed
at Caa1 (sf); previously on Sep 11, 2012 Caa1 (sf) Placed Under
Review for Possible Downgrade
Issuer: Azor Mortgages Public Limited Company
....EUR19M B Notes, Downgraded to Ba1
(sf); previously on Sep 11, 2012 Downgraded to Baa3 (sf) and
Placed Under Review for Possible Downgrade
....EUR9M C Notes, Downgraded to Ba3
(sf); previously on Sep 11, 2012 Ba1 (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 this transaction in the past
six months.
In conducting surveillance of this credit, Moody's considered performance
data contained in servicer and remittance reports. Moody's obtains
servicer reports on this transaction on a periodic basis, at least
annually.
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.
Sebastian?Schranz
Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Christophe?de Noaillat
Associate Managing Director
Structured Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Lyudmila Udot
Asst Vice President-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
Releasing Office:
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
An der Welle 5
Frankfurt am Main 60322
Germany
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's downgrades mezzanine notes in Atlantes Mortgages and Azor Mortgages Portuguese RMBS transactions