Kensington has been absent from the public securitisation markets for two years
Kensington Mortgages has successfully priced a new securitisation, Gemgarto 2023-1, a £548m residential mortgage-backed securities(RMBS) transaction.
The securitised loans were positively selected to include only owner-occupied, high LTV loans recently originated by Kensington.
After years of being an active RMBS issuer in the UK market, Kensington has been absent from the public securitisation markets for two years, given its recent acquisition by Barclays Bank UK, which is now providing funding for the business.
Kensington started the marketing of this bond in early November, privately placing the residual consideration and the unrated bonds to third party investors, before publicly announcing the deal to the markets; to achieve a more broadly syndicated process for the remaining mezzanine notes. Barclays is retaining the senior notes of this securitisation.
The reception from the markets was strong from the beginning of the process,
Alex Maddox, capital markets & digital director, Kensington Mortgages, commented: “This deal is a successful first public trade for Kensington under Barclays’ ownership; we have managed to attract significant and granular orderbooks, with depth and variety of the investors involved. This demonstrates a continued level of confidence from investors in the Kensington platform. The strong position we have built over the years in the UK RMBS market has helped us print an excellent transaction, pushing spreads across mezzanine notes to their tightest levels since April 2022”.
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