London, 12 August 2011 -- Moody's Investors Service announced today that it has upgraded and confirmed
the ratings of the following notes issued by Iron Hill CLO Limited:
....US$16.342M Class C Senior
Secured Deferrable Floating Rate Notes due 2025, Upgraded to Ba2
(sf); previously on Jun 22, 2011 Ba3 (sf) Placed Under Review
for Possible Upgrade
....US$14.007M Class B Senior
Secured Deferrable Floating Rate Notes due 2025, Confirmed at Baa3
(sf); previously on Jun 22, 2011 Baa3 (sf) Placed Under Review
for Possible Upgrade
RATINGS RATIONALE
Iron Hill CLO Limited, issued in March 2008, is a multicurrency
Collateralised Loan Obligation ("CLO") backed by a portfolio of mostly
high yield European loans of approximately EUR 305 million. The
portfolio is managed by Guggenheim Partners Europe Limited. This
transaction has passed its reinvestment period. It is predominantly
composed of senior secured loans. As of the latest trustee report
dated July 2011, the reported Class A, Class B, and
Class C overcollateralization ratios were 124.39%,
119.54% and 114.33% respectively, and
securities rated Caa or lower made up approximately 3.67%
of the underlying portfolio.
According to Moody's, the rating actions taken on the notes
are primarily a result of applying Moody's revised CLO assumptions described
in "Moody's Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published
in June 2011.
Today's actions reflect key changes to the modeling assumptions,
which incorporate (1) a removal of the temporary 30% default probability
macro stress implemented in February 2009, (2) increased BET liability
stress factors as well as (3) change to a fixed recovery rate modeling
framework. Additional changes to the modeling assumptions include
(1) standardizing the modeling of collateral amortization profile,
and (2) changing certain credit estimate stresses aimed at addressing
the lack of forward looking indicators as well as time lags in receiving
information required for credit estimate updates.
Due to the impact of revised and updated key assumptions referenced in
"Moody's Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published
in June 2011, key model inputs used by Moody's in its analysis,
such as par, weighted average rating factor, diversity score,
and seniority distribution in the asset pool, may be different from
the trustee's reported numbers. In its base case, Moody's
analyzed the underlying collateral pool to have a performing par and principal
proceeds balance of EUR 305.6 million, a weighted average
default probability of 18.8% (implying a WARF of 2921),
a weighted average recovery rate upon default of 48.20%
for a Aaa liability target rating, and a diversity score of 33.
The default probability is derived from the credit quality of the collateral
pool and Moody's expectation of the remaining life of the collateral
pool. The average recovery rate to be realized on future defaults
is based primarily on the seniority of the assets in the collateral pool.
For a Aaa liability target rating, Moody's assumed that 94.28%
of the portfolio exposed to senior secured corporate assets would recover
50% upon default, while the remainder non first-lien
loan corporate assets would recover 10%. In each case,
historical and market performance trends and collateral manager latitude
for trading the collateral are also factors. These default and
recovery properties of the collateral pool are incorporated in cash flow
model analysis where they are subject to stresses as a function of the
target rating of each CLO liability being reviewed.
Moody's notes that this transaction is subject to a high level of
macroeconomic uncertainty, as evidenced by 1) uncertainties of credit
conditions in the general economy and 2) the large concentration of speculative-grade
debt maturing between 2012 and 2014 which may create challenges for issuers
to refinance. CLO notes' performance may also be impacted
by 1) the manager's investment strategy and behavior and 2) divergence
in legal interpretation of CLO documentation by different transactional
parties due to embedded ambiguities.
Sources of additional performance uncertainties are described below:
1) Moody's also notes that around 46.29% of the collateral
pool consists of debt obligations whose credit quality has been assessed
through Moody's credit estimates.
2) Weighted average life: The notes' ratings are sensitive
to the weighted average life assumption of the portfolio, which
may be extended due to the manager's decision to participate in
amend-to-extend offerings. Moody's tested for
a possible extension of the actual weighted average life in its analysis.
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Approach to
Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published in June 2011.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Moody's modeled the transaction using the Binomial Expansion Technique,
as described in Section 2.3.2.1 of the "Moody's Approach
to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" rating methodology published
in June 2011.
The cash flow model used for this transaction, whose description
can be found in the methodology listed above, is Moody's EMEA Cash-Flow
model.
In addition to the quantitative factors that are explicitly modeled,
qualitative factors are part of the rating committee considerations.
These qualitative factors include the structural protections in each transaction,
the recent deal performance in the current market environment, the
legal environment, specific documentation features, the collateral
manager's track record, and the potential for selection bias in
the portfolio. All information available to rating committees,
including macroeconomic forecasts, input from other Moody's analytical
groups, market factors, and judgments regarding the nature
and severity of credit stress on the transactions, may influence
the final rating decision.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agents
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, and confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service 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.
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.
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
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.
London
Sandra Zhu
Associate Analyst
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
London
Ian Perrin
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Structured Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
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Moody's upgrades the ratings of USD16.3m CLO notes of Iron Hill CLO Limited