London, 05 June 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has taken rating actions on the following notes
issued by Max Capital Limited:
Issuer: Max Capital Ltd 2007-01
....Series 2007-01 JPY 11,720,000,000
Secured Fixed Rate Loan Notes due 2037, Upgraded to A1 (sf);
previously on Mar 20, 2015 A2 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible
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Issuer: Max Capital Ltd Series 2007-02
....Series 2007-02 JPY 5,940,000,000
Secured Fixed Rate Loan Notes due 2037, Upgraded to A1 (sf);
previously on Mar 20, 2015 A2 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible
Upgrade
Issuer: Max Capital Ltd Series 2007-03
....Series 2007-03 JPY 12,043,000,000
Secured Fixed Rate Loan Notes due 2036, Upgraded to A1 (sf);
previously on Mar 20, 2015 A2 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible
Upgrade
Issuer: Max Capital Ltd Series 2007-04
....Series 2007-04 JPY 12,049,213,738
Secured Fixed Rate Loan Notes due 2037, Confirmed at A3 (sf);
previously on Mar 20, 2015 A3 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible
Upgrade
Issuer: Max Capital Ltd Series 2008-01
....Series 2008-01 JPY 20,067,274,627
Secured Fixed Rate Loan Notes due 2038, Confirmed at A1 (sf);
previously on Mar 20, 2015 A1 (sf) Placed Under Review for Possible
Upgrade
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's explained that the rating actions taken today take into account
(i) the conclusion of rating actions on the senior unsecured rating of
Citibank, N.A. which was upgraded to (P)A1 from (P)A2
on review for upgrade and the newly assigned Counterparty Risk (CR) Assessment
of A1(cr) to Citibank, N.A. on 28 May 2015,
and (ii) the rating actions on Wachovia Bank, N.A.
and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. on 14 May 2015.
Series 2007-01 represents the repackaging of a USD 100m subordinated
fixed rate bond issued by Wachovia Bank, N.A. (the
"underlying collateral") swapped into Japanese Yen with Citibank,
N.A as swap counterparty. The rating of the underlying collateral
was upgraded to Aa3 from A1 on 14 May 2015.
Series 2007-02 represents the repackaging of USD 50m subordinated
fixed rate bond issued by Wachovia Bank, N.A. (the
"underlying collateral") swapped into Japanese Yen with Citibank,
N.A as swap counterparty. The rating of the underlying collateral
was upgraded to Aa3 from A1 on 14 May 2015.
Series 2007-03 represents the repackaging of USD 175m senior fixed
rate bond issued by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (the "underlying
collateral") swapped into Japanese Yen with Citibank, N.A
as swap counterparty. The rating of the underlying collateral was
upgraded to Aa3 from A1 on 14 May 2015.
Series 2007-04 represents the repackaging of USD 100m fixed rate
bond issued by Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC. (the
"underlying collateral") swapped into Japanese Yen with Citibank,
N.A as swap counterparty. The rating of the underlying collateral
is unchanged at A2.
Series 2008-01 represents the repackaging of USD 175m fixed rate
6.2% bond issued by United Parcel Service, Inc.
(the "underlying collateral") swapped into Japanese Yen with
Citibank, N.A as swap counterparty. The rating of
the collateral was unchanged at Aa3.
For further information on the underlying actions see the press release
titled "Moody's concludes reviews on 13 global investment
banks' ratings" published on 28 May 2015 (https://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PR_326277)
and "Moody's concludes reviews on 63 US banks ratings"
published on 14 May 2015 (https://www.moodys.com/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PR_325380)
on www.moodys.com.
Methodology Underlying the Rating Actions:
The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's Approach
to Rating Repackaged Securities" published in December 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 ratings:
Given the repack nature of the structures, noteholders are mainly
exposed to the credit risk of the underlying asset and the Swap Counterparty.
A downgrade or upgrade of either the underlying collateral or the swap
counterparty could trigger a downgrade or upgrade on the Notes.
Moody's notes that these transactions are subject to a high level of macroeconomic
uncertainty, which could negatively impact the ratings of the notes,
as evidenced by 1) uncertainties of credit conditions in the general economy
and 2) more specifically, any uncertainty associated with the underlying
credits in the transaction could have a direct impact on the repackaged
transaction.
Loss and Cash Flow Analysis:
Our quantitative analysis focuses on the risks relating to the credit
quality of the assets backing the repack and of the counterparties.
We generally determine the expected loss posed to securities holders by
adding together the severities for loss scenarios arising from either
underlying asset default, and if applicable, hedge counterparty
risk, each weighted according to its respective probability.
We then translate the expected loss to a rating using our idealised loss
rates.
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 these transactions
in the past six months.
Moody's describes its loss and cash flow analysis in the section
"Ratings Rationale" of this press release.
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.
Lola Aleyideino
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
Stefan Augustin
VP - Sr Credit Officer/Manager
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 takes various rating actions on 5 repack notes of Max Capital Limited