DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to Taurus 2013 (GMF1) PLC

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) has today assigned provisional ratings to the following classes of Commercial Real Estate Loan Backed Floating-Rate Notes due 2024 (collectively, the Notes) to be issued by Taurus 2013 (GMF1) PLC:

– AAA (sf) to Class A
– AA (sf) to Class B
– A (sf) to Class C
– BBB (sf) to Class D
– BBB (low) to Class E
– A (sf) to Deferred Arrangement Fee Certificate

All trends are Stable.

Taurus 2013 (GMF1) PLC is a securitisation of four loans: two fixed-rate loans and two floating-rate loans (the Loans). The combined balance of the four loans is EUR 1,077,500,000. All of the Loans are cross-collateralised and cross-defaulted with each other. The two fixed-rate loans have an initial balance of EUR 1,023,625,000 and the two floating-rate loans have an initial balance of EUR 53,875,000. Each of the four loans was made to four Borrowers, all of which are subsidiaries of the Sponsor. Each of these Borrowers is also a Guarantor under the terms of the Loans. In addition, there are two other Guarantors that are also subsidiaries of the Sponsor. The Sponsor is GAGFAH S.A. (GAGFAH), the largest publicly listed owner of residential multifamily property in Germany. The transaction is arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the benefit of the Sponsor. The purpose of the transaction is to provide capital to refinance two loans that were securitised in two previous commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) transactions, Windermere IX and Deco 2007-E5 (not rated by DBRS).

The collateral portfolio for the transaction consists of 37,297 residential units, 859 commercial units, 5,691 parking units and 1,931 other units. The residential and commercial units comprise a total rentable area of 2,199,649 square metres. All of the properties are located in eastern Germany in the cities of Dresden and Zwickau. Property management services for the portfolio are provided by a subsidiary of the Sponsor.

The final legal maturity of the Notes is in May 2024, six years beyond the maturity of the loans. This is believed to be sufficient time to enforce and repay bondholders, given the unique security structure and the property’s jurisdiction.

Finalisation of ratings is contingent upon receipt of final documents conforming to information already received by DBRS.

Notes:
The principal methodologies applicable are European CMBS Rating Methodology, Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions, Operational Risk Methodology for European Structure Finance Servicers, Swap Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions and Unified Interest Rate Model for European Securitisations, which can be found on www.dbrs.com under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include Bank of America Merrill Lynch Deutsche Bank AG (London Branch), Taurus 2013 (GMF1) PLC, GAGFAH S.A. and Jones Lang LaSalle. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

This rating concerns a newly issued financial instrument. This is the first DBRS rating on this financial instrument.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings Limited are subject to EU regulations only.

For additional information on this rating, please see Linking Document: European CMBS under Related Research to the right or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

Lead Analyst: Scott Goedken
Rating Committee Chair: Mary Jane Potthoff
Initial Rating Date: 2 May 2013