Bangkok--Mar 17--Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited has today affirmed the ‘AAA(tha)’ rating of the THB1.5 billion asset-backed debentures issued in February 2004 by Eternal Special Purpose Vehicle Company Limited (“Eternal”). The Outlook on the rating is Stable. The rating addresses the likelihood of full and timely payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal by legal final maturity in February 2010. Fitch has affirmed the rating due to the satisfactory performance of the underlying receivables against the agency’s base case expectations, as well as continued strong excess spread and relatively low delinquency levels.
This transaction is a securitisation of hire purchase receivables corresponding to consumer products originated by AEON Thana Sinsap (Thailand) Public Company Limited (“AEONTS”), a Thai consumer finance operator currently rated ‘A-(tha)’ (A minus(tha)). The bonds are backed by a pool of eligible consumer hire purchase receivables, including those generated by the purchase of electrical appliances, decorative household goods, office supplies, mobile phones and sports equipment, under an assignment of rights to receive cash flows.
The purchased assets’ value was THB2.0bn as of the cut-off date which was 75% funded by the net proceeds from the bonds and 25% by the subordinated loans provided by AEONTS. The transaction is currently within its three-and-a-half year revolving period, during which asset substitutions can be made subject to meeting certain eligibility criteria. As of 20 February 2005, the portfolio consisted of approximately 476,000 contracts with an average principal outstanding of approximately THB4,200 per contract and a weighted average remaining term of six months.
A copy of the performance report for Eternal will be available on www.fitchratings.com and www.fitchratingsasia.com
Contact:
Pimolpa Simaroj, Orawan Karoonkornsakul,
Vincent Milton; Bangkok, Tel: +662 655 4755;
Hilary Tan, Ben McCarthy, Hong Kong, +852 2263 9904
Note to Editors: Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with sub- or low-investment grade international sovereign ratings. The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA(tha)’ for National ratings in Thailand. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable. End.