Press Release

DBRS Morningstar Confirms Rating on Titan SPV S.r.l. and Maintains Negative Trend

Nonperforming Loans

December 28, 2021

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed its rating on the Class A notes issued by Titan SPV S.r.l. (the Issuer) at BBB (sf) and maintained a Negative trend.

The transaction represents the issuance of the Class A, Class B, and Class J notes (collectively, the Notes). The rating on the Class A notes addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate payment of principal on or before the final maturity date. DBRS Morningstar does not rate the Class B or the Class J notes.

At Issuance, the Notes were backed by a EUR 335.4 million portfolio by gross book value (GBV) of Italian secured and unsecured nonperforming leases originated by Alba Leasing S.p.A., Banco BPM S.p.A., and Release S.p.A. (the Originators or the Sellers). As of June 2021, the securitised portfolio had a total GBV of EUR 315.0 million and was mostly composed of secured leases, representing approximately 90.2% of the GBV.

The receivables are serviced by Prelios Credit Servicing S.p.A. (Prelios, PRECS, or the Servicer), while Banca Finanziaria Internazionale S.p.A. (Banca Finint) has been appointed as backup servicer for Prelios.

RATING RATIONALE
The rating confirmation follows a review of the transaction and are based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Transaction performance: assessment of portfolio recoveries as of 30 June 2021, focusing on: (1) a comparison between actual collections and the Servicer’s initial business plan forecast; (2) the collection performance observed over recent months, including the period following the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19); and (3) a comparison between the current performance and DBRS Morningstar’s expectations.
-- Portfolio characteristics: loan pool composition as of June 2021 and the evolution of its core features since issuance.
-- Transaction liquidating structure: the order of priority entails a fully sequential amortisation of the Notes (i.e., the Class B notes will begin to amortise following the full repayment of the Class A notes and the Class J notes will amortise following the repayment of the Class B notes). Additionally, interest payments on the Class B notes become subordinated to principal payments on the Class A notes if the cumulative collection ratio or present value cumulative profitability ratio is lower than 90%. These triggers were not breached on the June 2021 interest payment date (IPD), with actual figures of 131.5% and 938.8%, respectively.
-- Liquidity support: the transaction benefits from an amortising cash reserve providing liquidity to the structure, covering potential interest shortfall on the Class A notes and senior costs. The cash reserve target amount is equal to 5% of the Class A notes principal outstanding and is currently fully funded.

TRANSACTION AND PERFORMANCE
According to the latest investor report from 30 July 2021, the outstanding principal amounts of the Class A, Class B, and Class J notes were EUR 83.0 million, EUR 15.0 million, and EUR 10.1 million, respectively. As of the July 2021 IPD, the balance of the Class A notes has amortised by approximately 8.2% since issuance. The current aggregated transaction balance is EUR 108.1 million.

As of June 2021, the transaction was performing above the Servicer’s business plan expectations. The actual cumulative gross collections equaled EUR 14.1 million whereas the Servicer’s initial business plan estimated cumulative gross collections of EUR 13.8 million for the same period. Therefore, as of June 2021, the transaction was overperforming by EUR 0.4 million (+2.6%) compared with the initial business plan expectations.

At issuance, DBRS Morningstar estimated cumulative gross collections of EUR 9.0 million at the BBB (sf) stressed scenario as of June 2021. Therefore, as of June 2021, the transaction was performing above DBRS Morningstar’s stressed initial expectations.

Excluding actual collections, the Servicer’s expected future collections from July 2021 account for EUR 143.2 million. The updated DBRS Morningstar BBB (sf) rating stress assumes a haircut of 30.9% to the Servicer’s executed business plans, considering future expected collections. Pursuant to the requirements set out in the servicing agreement, the first updated business plan for the transaction was expected to be released in November 2021.

The final maturity date of the transaction is in January 2041.

DBRS Morningstar analysed the transaction structure using Intex DealMaker.

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 negative effects may continue in the coming months for many nonperforming loan (NPL) transactions. In particular, the deterioration of macroeconomic conditions could negatively affect recoveries from NPLs and the related real estate collaterals. 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 this transaction, DBRS Morningstar incorporated its expectation of a moderate medium-term decline in residential property prices, but gave partial credit to house price increases from 2023 onward in non-investment-grade scenarios.

The DBRS Morningstar Sovereign group releases baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereigns. These scenarios were last updated on 9 December 2021. DBRS Morningstar analysis considered impacts consistent with the baseline scenario in the below referenced report. For details, see the following commentaries: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/389454/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-for-rated-sovereigns-december-2021-update and https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384482/baseline-macroeconomic-scenarios-application-to-credit-ratings.

For more information on DBRS Morningstar considerations for European NPL transactions and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following commentaries: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/384146 and https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/360393.

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 rating is: “Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology” (8 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.

A review of the transaction legal documents was not conducted as the legal documents have remained unchanged since the most recent rating action.

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/381451/global-methodology-for-rating-sovereign-governments.

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 sources of data and information used for this rating include the Issuer, Prelios, and Banca Finint which comprise, in addition to the information received at issuance, the investor report as of July 2021, the semiannual servicer report as of June 2021, the quarterly servicer report as of September 2021, and the Quarterly Loan by Loan Report as of June 2021.

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

At the time of the initial rating, 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 this rating 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 29 June 2021, when DBRS Morningstar concluded that an amendment to the transaction documents would not, in and of itself, result in a downgrade or discontinuation and withdrawal of the rating on the Class A notes.

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Clarice Baiocchi.

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 rating, DBRS Morningstar considered the following stress scenarios, as compared to the parameters used to confirm the rating (the base case):

-- DBRS Morningstar concludes that a hypothetical decrease of the Recovery Rate by 5%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A notes to BBB (low) (sf).
-- DBRS Morningstar concludes that a hypothetical decrease of the Recovery Rate by 10%, ceteris paribus, would lead to a downgrade of the Class A notes to BB (high) (sf).

Generally, the conditions that lead to the assignment of a Negative or Positive trend are generally resolved within a 12-month period. DBRS Morningstar’s outlooks and ratings are monitored.

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.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom.

Lead Analyst: Clarice Baiocchi, Senior Analyst
Rating Committee Chair: David Lautier, Senior Vice President
Initial Rating Date: 28 December 2020

DBRS Ratings GmbH
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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.

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].

ALL MORNINGSTAR DBRS RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO DISCLAIMERS AND CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. PLEASE READ THESE DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING MORNINGSTAR DBRS RATINGS, INCLUDING DEFINITIONS, POLICIES, RATING SCALES AND METHODOLOGIES.

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