Johannesburg, 2 October 2017 — Global Credit Ratings (“GCR”) has published its updated Global Collateralised Loan Obligation (“CLO”) Rating Criteria.
GCR has updated its Global Collateralised Loan Obligation (“CLO”) Rating Criteria. The Criteria applies to managed transactions comprising granular and diverse pools of assets, typically loan obligations from small and medium sized enterprises (“SMEs”). The definition of SMEs can vary per jurisdiction but in line with the European Union definition, the definition of an SME may also include self-employed individuals, including artisans, sole traders and entrepreneurs, as well as small, medium sized enterprises and micro business. GCR will consider these types of entities as SMEs within its rating analysis.
The Criteria is an update to the version published in September 2016. There are no significant amendments to the Criteria. The update of this Criteria will not have an impact on any existing transactions that have been rated under it. Going forward, all new transactions will be rated using this updated Criteria.
The updated Criteria is available at www.globalratings.net.
ANALYTICAL CONTACTS
Primary Analyst
Yohan Assous
Sector Head: Structured Finance Ratings
+27 11 784 1771
yohan@globalratings.net
Committee Chairman
Marc Chadwick
Sector Head: Insurance Ratings
+27 11 784 1771
chadwick@globalratings.net
RATING LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS
ALL GCR’S CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: http://GLOBALRATINGS.NET/UNDERSTANDING-RATINGS. IN ADDITION, GCR’S RATING SCALES AND DEFINITIONS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://GLOBALRATINGS.NET/RATINGS-INFO/RATING-SCALES-DEFINITIONS. GCR’S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, PUBLICATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE AT http://GLOBALRATINGS.NET.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS/ACRONYMS USED IN THIS DOCUMENT AS PER GCR’S STRUCTURED FINANCE GLOSSARY
Agent | An agreement where one party (agent) concludes a juristic act on behalf of the other (principal). The agent undertakes to perform a task or mandate on behalf of the principal. |
Asset | An item with economic value that an entity owns or controls. |
Collateral | An asset pledged as security in event of default. |
Collateralised Loan Obligation | Junior tranches (that have a higher degree of default risk) of a securitisation transactions that have been repackaged into separate debt securities (according to their degree of risk) that utilise credit-enhancement techniques to mitigate the risk. A CDO is created to distribute the prepayment risk amongst different classes of Notes. |
Credit | A contractual agreement in which a borrower receives something of value now, and agrees to repay the lender at some date in the future, generally with interest. The term also refers to the borrowing capacity of an individual or company |
Credit Rating | An opinion regarding the creditworthiness of an entity, a security or financial instrument, or an issuer of securities or financial instruments, using an established and defined ranking system of rating categories. |
Credit Risk | The probability or likelihood that a borrower or issuer will not meet its debt obligations. Credit Risk can further be separated between current credit risk (immediate) and potential credit risk (deferred). |
Debt | An obligation to repay a sum of money. |
Insurance | Provides protection against a possible eventuality. |
International Scale Rating LC | International local currency (International LC) ratings measure the likelihood of repayment in the currency of the jurisdiction in which the issuer is domiciled. Therefore, the rating does not take into account the possibility that it will not be able to convert local currency into foreign currency or make transfers between sovereign jurisdictions. |
Issuer | The party indebted or the person making repayments for its borrowings. |
Liability | All financial claims, debts or potential losses incurred by an individual or an organisation. |
Liquidity | The ability to repay short-term obligations or short-term availability of liquid assets to a market or entity. |
Liquidity Risk | The risk that a company may not be able to meet its financial obligations or other operational cash requirements due to an inability to timeously realise cash from its assets. Regarding securities, the risk that a financial instrument cannot be traded at its market price due to the size, structure or efficiency of the market. |
Loan | A sum of money borrowed by a debtor that is expected to be paid back with interest to the creditor. A debt instrument where immovable property is the collateral for the loan. A mortgage gives the lender a right to take possession of the property if the borrower fails to repay the loan. Registration is a prerequisite for the existence of any mortgage loan. A mortgage can be registered over either a corporeal or incorporeal property, even if it does not belong to the mortgagee. Also called a Mortgage bond. |
Long-Term Rating | A long term rating reflects an issuer’s ability to meet its financial obligations over the following three to five year period, including interest payments and debt redemptions. This encompasses an evaluation of the organisation’s current financial position, as well as how the position may change in the future with regard to meeting longer term financial obligations. |
Loss | A tangible or intangible, financial or non-financial loss of economic value. |
Market | An assessment of the property value, with the value being compared to similar properties in the area. |
Obligation | The title given to the legal relationship that exists between parties to an agreement when they acquire personal rights against each other for entitlement to perform. |
Provision | An amount set aside for expected losses to be incurred by a creditor. |
Securities | Various instruments used in the capital market to raise funds. |
Security | An asset deposited or pledged as a guarantee of the fulfilment of an undertaking or the repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in case of default. |
Short-Term Rating | A short term rating is an opinion of an issuer’s ability to meet all financial obligations over the upcoming 12 month period, including interest payments and debt redemptions. |
Structured Finance | A method of raising funds in the capital markets. A Structured Finance transaction is established to accomplish certain funding objectives whist reducing risk. |
Transaction | A transaction that enables an Issuer to issue debt securities in the capital markets. A debt issuance programme that allows an Issuer the continued and flexible issuance of several types of securities in accordance with the programme terms and conditions. |
For a detailed glossary of terms, please click here