DBRS Morningstar Confirms Rating on the Class A-R Notes Issued by TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO I Ltd.

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the rating of AAA (sf) on the Class A-R Senior Secured Floating-Rate Notes (the Class A-R Notes) issued by TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO I Ltd. and TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO I LLC (together, the Co-Issuers) pursuant to the First Supplemental Indenture (the Indenture) dated as of October 22, 2018, among TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO I Ltd. as Issuer; TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO I LLC as Co-Issuer; and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. (rated AA (high) with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar) as Trustee.

The rating on the Class A-R Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate payment of principal on or before the Stated Maturity (as defined in the Indenture referenced above).

The Class A-R Notes issued by the Co-Issuers are collateralized primarily by a portfolio of U.S. middle-market corporate loans and will be managed by Nuveen Alternatives Advisors LLC. Additionally, Churchill Asset Management LLC will act as Sub-Advisor for this transaction. Both the Collateral Manager and the Sub-Advisor are subsidiaries of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America.

The rating reflects the following:

(1) The First Supplemental Indenture dated as of October 22, 2018;
(2) The integrity of the transaction structure;
(3) DBRS Morningstar’s assessment of the portfolio quality;
(4) Adequate credit enhancement to withstand projected collateral loss rates under various cash flow stress scenarios; and
(5) DBRS Morningstar’s assessment of the origination, servicing, and collateralized loan obligation management capabilities of Nuveen Alternatives Advisors LLC as Collateral Manager and Churchill Asset Management LLC as Sub-Advisor.

To assess portfolio credit quality, DBRS Morningstar provides a credit estimate or internal assessment for each nonfinancial corporate obligor in the portfolio not rated by DBRS Morningstar. Credit estimates are not ratings; rather, they represent a model-driven default probability for each obligor that is used in assigning a rating to a facility.

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the resulting isolation measures have caused an immediate economic contraction, leading in some cases to increases in unemployment rates and income reductions for many borrowers. DBRS Morningstar anticipates that delinquencies may continue to increase in the coming months for many CLO transactions. The ratings are based on additional analysis to expected performance as a result of the global efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

For more information regarding DBRS Morningstar’s additional adjustment for select industries related to the coronavirus, please see its May 18, 2020, commentary “CLO Risk Exposure to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/361112.

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 U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology is Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit (February 8, 2021), which can be found on dbrsmorningstar.com under Methodologies & Criteria.

The DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenarios as set forth in the following report: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process for this rating action. DBRS Morningstar had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this rating action.

Please see the related appendix for additional information regarding the sensitivity of assumptions used in the rating process.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom, and by DBRS Ratings GmbH for use in the European Union, respectively. The following additional regulatory disclosures apply to endorsed ratings:

The last rating action on this transaction took place on October 22, 2020.

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/cerep-web/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.

Lead Analyst: Quan Yoon
Rating Committee Chair: Glen Leppert, Senior Vice President, Structured Credit, Global Structured Finance
Initial Rating Date: October 5, 2018

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

DBRS, Inc.
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New York, NY 10005 USA
Tel. +1 212 806-3277

-- Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit and DBRS Morningstar CLO Asset Model Version 2.2.3 (February 8, 2021)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373423/rating-clos-and-cdos-of-large-corporate-credit

-- Cash Flow Assumptions for Corporate Credit Securitizations (February 8, 2021)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373422/cash-flow-assumptions-for-corporate-credit-securitizations

-- Operational Risk Assessment for Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) and Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) Managers of Large Corporate Credits (September 20, 2021)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384628/operational-risk-assessment-for-collateralized-loan-obligation-clo-and-collateralized-debt-obligation-cdo-managers-of-large-corporate-credits

-- Interest Rate Stresses for U.S. Structured Finance Transactions (June 10, 2021)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/379958/interest-rate-stresses-for-us-structured-finance-transactions

-- Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance (December 21, 2020)
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/371685/legal-criteria-for-us-structured-finance