EFG Eurobank, as originator and transferor, successfully launched and priced yesterday its credit card asset-backed securities, issued by Karta 2005-1 PLC, a public limited company in the United Kingdom.
EFG Eurobank, as originator and transferor, successfully launched and priced yesterday its credit card asset-backed securities, issued by Karta 2005-1 PLC, a public limited company in the United Kingdom.
The total size amounts to €750 million at an average funding cost of three-month Euribor + 21.7bps, with a soft bullet maturity of 4.96 years.
This is the first credit card securitisation transaction from a Greek bank and the first credit card securitisation transaction denominated in euros in Europe this year.
The credit card asset-backed securities were rated by rating agencies Standard & Poors, Moody’s and Fitch. Specifically, the €592.5 million Class A Notes received the highest possible rating of AAA/Aaa/AAA (with coupon three month Euribor + 15bps); the €75.0 million Class B Notes were rated A/A1/A+ (with coupon three month Euribor + 32bps); and the €82.5 million Class C Notes were rated BBB/Baa2/BBB (with coupon three month Euribor + 60bps).
The transaction was arranged by Deutsche Bank AG London and EFG Telesis Finance S.A. and Joint Lead Managers were Deutsche Bank AG London, EFG Telesis Finance S.A. and Merrill Lynch International Roadshow meetings and presentations were held with institutional investors in Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, London and Paris to discuss the Greek credit card market, EFG Eurobank’s experience in the credit card business and the structural elements of the transaction.
The strong interest from institutional investors resulted in this landmark transaction being significantly oversubscribed with the result that the transaction’s price guidance was revised tighter. This enabled the Bank to achieve competitive terms and execute a highly successful transaction.
For EFG Eurobank, this is the third securitisation transaction, following the two €750 million residential mortgage-backed securitisation transactions in the past 12 months.
This credit card securitisation transaction continues to broaden the Bank’s funding programme, bringing alternative sources of long term liquidity.