DBRS Morningstar Confirms Ratings on Kantoor Finance 2018 DAC with Stable Trends

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the ratings on all classes of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Floating Rate Notes Due May 2028 issued by Kantoor Finance 2018 DAC as follows:

-- Class A notes at AAA (sf)
-- Class B notes at AA (low) (sf)
-- Class C notes at A (low) (sf)
-- Class D notes at BBB (low) (sf)
-- Class E notes at BB (low) (sf)

All trends are Stable.

The rating confirmations follow the transaction’s stable performance in spite of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which has had little impact on rent collections based on the latest servicer report for the May 2021 interest payment day (IPD).

At issuance, the transaction included two floating-rate senior commercial real estate loans—PPF and Iron—as well as the pari passu capital expenditures (capex) facility associated with the Iron loan. However, the PPF loan was fully repaid on 17 May 2021. As such, the Iron loan is the only loan outstanding, with a remaining term of 1.45 years.

The Iron loan balance reduced to EUR 57.3 million (including EUR 4.5 million capex facility) from EUR 62.9 million at inception, mostly due the sale of the Wegalaan asset in Q2 2019 and, to a less extent, the limited annual amortization (1.0% p.a. in Years 2 to 4 and 2.0% p.a. in Year 5). Savills plc recently revalued the remaining eight assets securing the Iron loan at EUR 121.4 million, which was slightly lower than the EUR 129.9 million value as at the latest annual review, but above the EUR 88.4 million value at issuance. Based on the latest valuation, the facility benefits from a moderate loan-to-value (LTV) of 47.3%.

DBRS Morningstar updated its cash flow assumption to reflect the latest available tenancy schedule received by the servicer and the new DBRS Morningstar net cash flow (NCF) amounts to EUR 5.0 million. In addition, DBRS Morningstar maintained its cap rate at 7.0% as at underwriting, which translates to a DBRS Morningstar stressed value of EUR 71.5 million, representing a 41.1% haircut on the reported market value of EUR 121.4 million as of May 2021 IPD.

The Iron loan has a fixed loan term of five years from the first utilisation date of the loan in October 2017, meaning that the Iron borrowers will need to repay by the November 2022 loan interest payment date. The commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) notes maturity date is 22 May 2028, resulting in a tail period of over 5 years, which provides the special servicer with enough time to work out the loan if necessary.

The coronavirus and the resulting isolation measures have caused an economic contraction, leading to sharp increases in unemployment rates and income reductions for many tenants and borrowers. DBRS Morningstar anticipates that vacancy rate increases and cash flow reductions may arise for many CMBS borrowers, some meaningfully. In addition, commercial real estate values will be negatively affected, at least in the short term, impacting refinancing prospects for maturing loans and expected recoveries for defaulted loans. The ratings are based on additional analysis as a result of the global efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

On 16 April 2020, the DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group released a set of macroeconomic scenarios for the 2020–22 period in select economies. These scenarios were last updated on 18 June 2021. For details, see the following commentaries: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/380281/global-macroeconomic-scenarios-june-2021-update and https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/359903/global-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings. The DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the moderate scenario in the referenced reports.

On 16 June 2020, DBRS Morningstar published a commentary outlining how the coronavirus crisis is likely to affect DBRS Morningstar-rated CMBS transactions in Europe. For more details, please see: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/362693/european-cmbs-transactions-risk-exposure-to-coronavirus-covid-19-effect and https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/362712/european-structured-finance-covid-19-credit-risk-exposure-roadmap.

For more information regarding rating methodologies and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/357883.

For more information regarding structured finance rating methodologies and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/358308.

For more information regarding the structured finance rating approach and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/359905.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS
A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373262.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the ratings is: “European CMBS Rating and Surveillance Methodology” (26 February 2021).

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release. These may be found at: http://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

DBRS Morningstar has applied the principal methodology consistently and conducted a review of the transaction in accordance with the principal methodology.

For a more detailed discussion of the sovereign risk impact on Structured Finance ratings, please refer to “Appendix C: The Impact of Sovereign Ratings on Other DBRS Morningstar Credit Ratings” of the “Global Methodology for Rating Sovereign Governments” at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/364527/global-methodology-for-rating-sovereign-governments.

The sources of data and information used for these ratings include servicer reports provided by CBRE Loan Services Limited (CBRE), cash management reports provided by U.S. Bank Global Corporate Trust Limited, as well as updated rent roll and valuation reports provided by CBRE.

DBRS Morningstar did not rely upon third-party due diligence in order to conduct its analysis.

At the time of the initial ratings, DBRS Morningstar was supplied with third-party assessments. However, this did not impact the rating analysis.

DBRS Morningstar considers the data and information available to it for the purposes of providing these ratings to be of satisfactory quality.

DBRS Morningstar does not audit or independently verify the data or information it receives in connection with the rating process.

The last rating action on this transaction took place on 9 July 2020, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed the ratings on all classes with Stable trends.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Daniel Rakhamimov.

Information regarding DBRS Morningstar ratings, including definitions, policies, and methodologies, is available on www.dbrsmorningstar.com.

To assess the impact of changing the transaction parameters on the ratings, DBRS Morningstar considered the following stress scenarios, as compared with the parameters used to determine the ratings (the Base Case):

Class A Risk Sensitivity:
-- 10% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class A notes at A (high) (sf)
-- 20% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class A notes at A (low) (sf)

Class B Risk Sensitivity:
-- 10% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class B notes at A (sf)
-- 20% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class B notes at BBB (high) (sf)

Class C Risk Sensitivity:
-- 10% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class C notes at BBB (high) (sf)
-- 20% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class C notes at BBB (low) (sf)

Class D Risk Sensitivity:
-- 10% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class D notes at BB (high) (sf)
-- 20% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class D notes at B (high) (sf)

Class E Risk Sensitivity:
-- 10% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class E notes at B (high) (sf)
-- 20% decline in DBRS Morningstar NCF, expected rating of Class E notes at CCC (sf)

For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see: http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerepweb/statistics/defaults.xhtml. DBRS Morningstar understands further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates may be published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on its webpage: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/credit-rating-agencies.

These ratings are endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom.

Lead Analyst: Daniel Rakhamimov, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Mirco Iacobucci, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 13 June 2018

DBRS Ratings GmbH
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60311 Frankfurt am Main Deutschland
Tel. +49 (69) 8088 3500

Geschäftsführer: Detlef Scholz
Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, HRB 110259

The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

-- European CMBS Rating and Surveillance Methodology (26 February 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/374399/european-cmbs-rating-and-surveillance-methodology.
-- Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions (6 April 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/376314/legal-criteria-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions (28 September 2020), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/367292/interest-rate-stresses-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions (24 September 2020), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/367092/derivative-criteria-for-european-structured-finance-transactions.
-- Currency Stresses for Global Structured Finance Transactions (18 February 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373856/currency-stresses-for-global-structured-finance-transactions.
-- DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings (3 February 2021), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373262/dbrs-morningstar-criteria-approach-to-environmental-social-and-governance-risk-factors-in-credit-ratings.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: http://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/278375.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at [email protected].