Moody's also affirms the ratings on $49.2 million of notes
New York, December 04, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the ratings on the following notes
issued by NewStar Commercial Loan Trust 2007-1:
U.S. $24,000,000 Class B Notes Due 2022,
Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on June 30, 2014 Confirmed
at Aa1 (sf)
U.S. $58,500,000 Class C Notes Due 2022,
Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on June 30, 2014 Confirmed
at A2 (sf)
U.S. $27,000,000 Class D Notes Due 2022,
Upgraded to A1 (sf); previously on June 30, 2014 Confirmed
at Baa2 (sf)
U.S. $29,100,000 Class E Notes Due 2022,
Upgraded to Ba1 (sf); previously on June 14, 2013 Upgraded
to Ba2 (sf)
Moody's also affirmed the ratings on the following notes:
U.S. $336,500,000 Class A-1 Notes
Due 2022 (current outstanding balance of $37,428,003),
Affirmed Aaa (sf); previously on June 14, 2013 Affirmed Aaa
(sf)
U.S. $100,000,000 Class A-2 Notes
Due 2022 (current outstanding balance of $11,773,922),
Affirmed Aaa (sf); previously on June 14, 2013 Affirmed Aaa
(sf)
NewStar Commercial 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 June 2013.
RATINGS RATIONALE
These rating actions are primarily a result of deleveraging of the senior
notes and an increase in the transaction's over-collateralization
(OC) ratios since May 2015. The Class A notes have been paid down
by approximately 62% or $79.5 million since that
time. Based on Moody's calculations, the implied over-collateralization
ratios for the Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class
D, and Class E notes are 439.19%, 295.20%,
164.07%, 136.16%, and 115.06%,
respectively, versus May 2015 levels of 230.59%,
194.35%, 140.52%, 124.59%,
and 111.03%, respectively.
Methodology Used for the Rating Action
The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's Global Approach
to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published in September
2015. 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) Sensitivity to default timing scenarios: The junior and mezzanine
notes in this CLO rely significantly on excess interest for additional
credit enhancement. However, the availability of such credit
enhancement from excess interest is subject to uncertainty relating to
the timing and the amount of defaults, and the transaction could
be negatively affected if the timing of defaults differs from Moody's
assumptions. Moody's modeled additional scenarios using concentrated
default timing profiles to assess the sensitivity of the notes'
ratings to volatility in the amount of excess interest available after
defaults.
6) Exposure to credit estimates: The deal contains a large number
of securities whose default probabilities Moody's has assessed through
credit estimates. If Moody's does not receive the necessary information
to update its credit estimates in a timely fashion, the transaction
could be negatively affected by any default probability adjustments Moody's
assumes in lieu of updated credit estimates.
In addition to the base case analysis, Moody's also conducted sensitivity
analyses to test the impact of a number of default probabilities on the
rated notes relative to the base case modeling results, which may
be different from the current public ratings of the notes. Below
is a summary of the impact of different default probabilities (expressed
in terms of WARF) on all of the rated notes (by the difference in the
number of notches versus the current model output, for which a positive
difference corresponds to lower expected loss):
Moody's Adjusted WARF -- 20% (3380)
Class A-1: 0
Class A-2: 0
Class B: 0
Class C: 0
Class D: +2
Class E: +1
Moody's Adjusted WARF + 20% (5071)
Class A-1: 0
Class A-2: 0
Class B: 0
Class C: 0
Class D: -2
Class E: -1
Loss and Cash Flow Analysis:
Moody's modeled the transaction using a cash flow model based on
the Binomial Expansion Technique, as described in "Moody's Global
Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations."
The key model inputs Moody's used in its analysis, such as
par, weighted average rating factor, diversity score and the
weighted average recovery rate, are based on its published methodology
and could differ from the trustee's reported numbers. In its base
case, Moody's analyzed the collateral pool as having a performing
par and principal proceeds balance of $216.1 million,
no defaulted par, a weighted average default probability of 25.20%
(implying a WARF of 4226), a weighted average recovery rate upon
default of 46.27%, a diversity score of 27 and a weighted
average spread of 4.60% (before accounting for LIBOR floors).
Moody's incorporates the default and recovery properties of the
collateral pool in cash flow model analysis where they are subject to
stresses as a function of the target rating on each CLO liability reviewed.
Moody's derives the default probability from the credit quality
of the collateral pool and Moody's expectation of the remaining
life of the collateral pool. The average recovery rate for future
defaults is based primarily on the seniority of the assets in the collateral
pool. Moody's generally applies recovery rates for CLO securities
as published in "Moody's Approach to Rating SF CDOs".
In some cases, alternative recovery assumptions may be considered
based on the specifics of the analysis of the CLO transaction.
In each case, historical and market performance and the collateral
manager's latitude for trading the collateral are also factors.
For deals with large credit estimate holdings A material proportion of
the collateral pool includes debt obligations whose credit quality Moody's
assesses through credit estimates. Moody's analysis reflects adjustments
with respect to the default probabilities associated with credit estimates.
Specifically, Moody's assumed an equivalent of Caa3 for assets with
credit estimates that have not been updated within the last 15 months,
which represent approximately 5.63% of the collateral pool.
Additionally, for each credit estimates whose related exposure constitutes
more than 3% of the collateral pool, Moody's applied a two-notch
equivalent assumed downgrade, which totals approximately 14.59%
of the pool.
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 describes its loss and cash flow analysis in the section
"Ratings Rationale" of this press release.
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.
Moody's weights the impact on the rated instruments based on its
assumptions of the likelihood of the events in such scenarios occurring.
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.
Diana Situ
Associate Analyst 2
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
David Ham
VP - Senior Credit Officer
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 upgrades ratings on $138.6 million of CLO notes issued by NewStar Commercial Loan Trust 2007-1