New York, May 13, 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has placed on review for possible upgrade the
ratings on the following notes issued by NewStar Commercial Loan Trust
2007-1:
U.S. $24,000,000 Class B Notes due 2022,
Aa1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Upgrade; previously on
June 14, 2013 Upgraded to Aa1 (sf);
U.S. $58,500,000 Class C Notes due 2022,
A2 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Upgrade; previously on June
14, 2013 Upgraded to A2 (sf);
U.S. $27,000,000 Class D Notes due 2022,
Baa2 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible Upgrade; previously on
June 14, 2013 Upgraded to Baa2 (sf).
NewStar Commerical Loan Trust 2007-1, issued in June 2007,
is a collateralized loan obligation backed primarily by a portfolio of
senior secured loans issued by middle market obligors. The transaction's
reinvestment period ended in May 2013.
RATINGS RATIONALE
These rating actions are primarily a result of deleveraging of the senior
notes. The Class A notes have been paid down by approximately 26%
or $108 million since May 2013. Based on Moody's calculations,
the implied over-collateralization (OC) ratios for the Class A,
Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E notes are 153.32%,
142.30%, 121.08%, 113.28%,
and 105.93%, respectively, versus May 2013 levels
of 139.94%, 132.34%, 116.87%,
110.88%, and 105.08%, respectively.
These rating actions also reflect the discovery of an error in Moody's
previous modelling approach. According to Moody's, its analysis
in the June 2013 rating action assumed a shorter weighted average life
horizon to associate with the expected loss (EL) calculated for the notes,
with the result of comparing such ELs with more conservative maximum EL
benchmarks.
Methodology Used for the Rating Action:
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Global Approach
to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published in February 2014.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Factors that Would Lead to an Upgrade or Downgrade of the Rating:
This transaction is subject to a number of factors and circumstances that
could lead to either an upgrade or downgrade of the ratings:
1) Macroeconomic uncertainty: CLO performance is subject to a) uncertainty
about credit conditions in the general economy and b) the large concentration
of upcoming speculative-grade debt maturities, which could
make refinancing difficult for issuers.
2) Collateral Manager: Performance can also be affected positively
or negatively by a) the manager's investment strategy and behavior and
b) differences in the legal interpretation of CLO documentation by different
transactional parties owing to embedded ambiguities.
3) Collateral credit risk: A shift towards collateral of better
credit quality, or better credit performance of assets collateralizing
the transaction than Moody's current expectations, can lead to positive
CLO performance. Conversely, a negative shift in credit quality
or performance of the collateral can have adverse consequences for CLO
performance.
4) Deleveraging: An important source of uncertainty in this transaction
is whether deleveraging from unscheduled principal proceeds will continue
and at what pace. Deleveraging of the CLO could accelerate owing
to high prepayment levels in the loan market and/or collateral sales by
the manager, which could have a significant impact on the notes'
ratings. Note repayments that are faster than Moody's current expectations
will usually have a positive impact on CLO notes, beginning with
those with the highest payment priority.
5) Post-Reinvestment Period Loan Substitution: Subject to
certain requirements, the deal is allowed to substitute certain
loans after the end of the reinvestment period, and as such the
manager has the flexibility to deteriorate some collateral quality metrics
to the covenant levels.
6) Exposure to credit estimates: The deal is exposed to a large
number of securities whose default probabilities are assessed through
credit estimates. In the event that Moody's is not provided the
necessary information to update the credit estimates in a timely fashion,
the transaction may be impacted by any default probability adjustments
Moody's may assume in lieu of updated credit estimates.
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 related to the monitoring of this transaction
in the past six months.
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.
Shan Lai
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
Ramon O Torres
Senior Vice President/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 places on review for upgrade the ratings on USD 109.5 million of CLO notes issued by NewStar Commercial Loan Trust 2007-1