These bind upgrades pertain to two of its earliest securitisations, reflecting the seasoning of the pools, performance in line with expectations and higher-than-originally modelled excess spread levels.
Business Mortgage Finance 1 and 2 PLC, the securitisation vehicles for Commercial First, were completed in March and November 2004 for a combined value of £282.5m.
Commercial First has completed six public securitisations since launch, issuing bonds for over £1.6bn. It remains the only specialist lender in the UK to have achieved securitisations of this type of small commercial property class.
Stephen Johnson commented: “The recent upgrades from Fitch Ratings highlight the underlying performance of our portfolio as well as the overall quality of the assets.
“It is a difficult time in the capital markets to say the least, and the upgrades serve to highlight the strength of the Commercial First proposition – it has come at a good time”.
