DBRS Confirms Aqua Finance No. 3 Class A Notes issued by Tagus-Sociedade de Titularizacao de Creditos, S.A. to AA sf)

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS) has today confirmed the Class A notes issued by Tagus STC at AA sf). The rating action reflects the following analytical considerations:

•Incorporation of a sovereign related stress component in our stress scenario due to the recent downgrade by DBRS of the Republic of Portugal’s sovereign from BBB (high) Negative Trend to BBB Negative Trend.
•Increased uncertainty surrounding the impact of macroeconomic variables on collateral performance due to austerity measures taken by the Republic of Portugal.
•Heightened concern with respect to the stress certain transaction parties may come under to perform transaction obligations (servicers and collection account banks domiciled in Portugal).

Please refer to the DBRS Commentary entitled The Effects of Sovereign Risk on Securitisations in the Euro Area.

The principal methodologies applicable are Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology, Rating European Consumer Asset-Backed Securitisations and the DBRS Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include investor remittance reports and performance data relating to the receivables provided by Finicrédito, Instituição Financeira de Crédito, S.A. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of this rating action was of satisfactory quality.

For additional information on these ratings, please refer to the linking document.

Lead Analyst: Mike Babick
Rating Committee Chair: Claire Mezzanotte
Initial Rating Date: 23 March 2011