Hogan Lovells advised Ford Credit, Ford Motor Company’s European captive bank subsidiary (FCE Bank plc) on its €561,999,126.77 refinancing securitisation of automotive retail loan receivables, originated by FCE’s German branches, through the public term securitisation market.
The transaction, which closed on 29 November 2012 and was arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC and SMBC Nikko, is one of only a few ABS deals since the financial crisis to offer mezzanine notes.
The receivables, which were automotive retail loans for Ford Motor Company’s Ford brand vehicles, were sold to FCE’s Globaldrive Dutch SPV, which issued €500.1 million class A notes rated AAA/Aaa by S&P and Moody’s respectively, €30.9 million class B notes rated AA/A1 by S&P and Moody’s respectively and €30,999,126.77 in unrated class C notes. The class A notes and class B notes were listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. The class C notes were purchased by FCE.
This cross-border transaction was led by Hogan Lovells international debt capital markets global practice area head Sharon Lewis, assisted by Counsel Reza Mulligan and associate David Postlethwaite, with tax advice being coordinated by London tax partner Philip Harle assisted by associate Robert Eyre. Dr. Sven Brandt led the team in Frankfurt in relation to all German law matters with senior associate Anna Rogge, with German tax advice being provided by Dr. Heiko Gemmel. Amsterdam partner Ken Breken provided advice in relation to all SPV related matters. Amsterdam tax partner Anton Louwinger provided Dutch tax law advice. The joint arrangers were advised by Mayer Brown.
Commenting on the transaction, Sharon Lewis said:
“We are delighted to advise Ford Credit on this successful public retail transaction. We are honoured to continue to be part of Ford Credit’s European securitisation team and Globaldrive’s continued success in the automotive securitisation market”.
