Morningstar DBRS Confirms Credit Rating on Fanes S.r.l. - Series 2020-1

DBRS Ratings GmbH (Morningstar DBRS) confirmed its credit rating on the Class A Notes issued by Fanes S.r.l. - Series 2020-1 (Fanes or the Issuer) at AAA (sf).

The credit rating addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate repayment of principal by the final maturity date in June 2060.

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE
The credit rating confirmation follows an annual review of the transaction and is based on the following analytical considerations:
-- Portfolio performances, in terms of delinquencies, defaults, and losses, as of the December 2024 payment date;
-- The one-year base case probability of default (PD), and default and recovery rates on the receivables; and
-- Current available credit enhancement to the Class A Notes to cover the expected losses at the AAA (sf) credit rating level.

Fanes is a revolving cash flow securitisation collateralised by a portfolio of secured and unsecured loans to Italian small and medium-size enterprises, entrepreneurs, artisans, and producer families. The portfolio was originated and is serviced by Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano S.p.A. (CRB). The notes were issued on a partially paid basis and the nominal amounts are equal to EUR 3 billion and EUR 1 billion for the Class A and Class J Notes, respectively. The transaction had a 24-month ramp-up period, which ended in June 2022. During the revolving period, the Issuer purchased only one subsequent portfolio.

Around 29.4% of the current portfolio balance is assisted by the Fondo Centrale di Garanzia (FCG) guarantee, a state guarantee that covers up to 100% of the loan balance. Morningstar DBRS adjusted its recovery rates to account for the FCG guarantee.

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE
As of the 30 November 2024 portfolio cut-off date, delinquencies were low, with 90+-day arrears representing 1.1% of the outstanding portfolio balance. The gross cumulative default ratio stood at 0.6% of the initial and subsequent portfolio balance.

PORTFOLIO ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY DRIVERS
Morningstar DBRS maintained its base case one-year PDs for secured and unsecured loans at 4.3% and 2.8%, respectively.

Morningstar DBRS conducted a loan-by-loan analysis of the remaining pool of receivables and updated its lifetime default and recovery assumptions on the outstanding portfolio to 46.3% and 44.0%, respectively, at the AAA (sf) credit rating level.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT
Overcollateralisation of the outstanding collateral portfolio and the cash reserve provide credit enhancement to the Class A Notes. As of the December 2024 payment date, credit enhancement to the Class A Notes was 71.5%, up from 36.3% at closing.

The transaction benefits from an amortising cash reserve available to cover expenses, senior fees, and interest payments on the Class A Notes. The target cash reserve is equal to the greater of 2.0% of the principal outstanding balance of the Class A Notes and 1.2% of the current portfolio, with a floor of EUR 2.4 million. As of the December 2024 payment date, the cash reserve was at its target of EUR 5.7 million.

BNP Paribas Succursale Italia acts as the account bank for the transaction. Based on Morningstar DBRS' private credit rating on the account bank, the downgrade provisions outlined in the transaction documents, and the structural mitigants inherent in the transaction structure, Morningstar DBRS considers the risk arising from the exposure to the account bank to be consistent with the credit rating assigned to the Class A Notes, as described in Morningstar DBRS' "Legal and Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions" methodology.

Morningstar DBRS' credit ratings on the applicable classes address the credit risk associated with the identified financial obligations in accordance with the relevant transaction documents. Where applicable, a description of these financial obligations can be found in the transactions' respective press releases at issuance.

Morningstar DBRS' long-term credit ratings provide opinions on risk of default. Morningstar DBRS considers risk of default to be the risk that an issuer will fail to satisfy the financial obligations in accordance with the terms under which a long-term obligation has been issued.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
Social (S) Factors
Morningstar DBRS considered the presence of loans backed by the FCG Guarantee to be a relevant social factor (Social Impact of Product & Services) as outlined within "Morningstar DBRS Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors in Credit Ratings". Morningstar DBRS assumed reduced loss severity for the loans that are backed by the FCG Guarantee. This is credit positive given the reduced loss expectations for guaranteed loans but did not affect the credit rating.

There were no Environmental/Governance factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

A description of how Morningstar DBRS considers ESG factors within the Morningstar DBRS analytical framework can be found in the Morningstar DBRS Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors in Credit Ratings at https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/437781.

Morningstar DBRS analysed the transaction structure in its proprietary Excel-based cash flow engine.

Notes:
All figures are in euros unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodology applicable to the credit rating is "Rating CLOs Backed by Loans to European SMEs" (19 November 2024), https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/443198.

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release.

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

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

For a more detailed discussion of the sovereign risk impact on Structured Finance credit ratings, please refer to "Appendix C: The Impact of Sovereign Credit Ratings on Other Morningstar DBRS Credit Ratings" of the "Global Methodology for Rating Sovereign Governments" at: https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/436000.

The sources of data and information used for this credit rating include investor reports and loan-level data provided by Banca Finanziaria Internazionale S.p.A. as well as servicer reports provided by CRB.

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

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

Morningstar DBRS considers the data and information available to it for the purposes of providing this credit rating to be of satisfactory quality.

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

The last credit rating action on this transaction took place on 1 March 2024, when Morningstar DBRS upgraded its credit rating on the Class A Notes to AAA (sf) from AA (high) (sf).

The lead analyst responsibilities for this transaction have been transferred to Helvia Meana.

Information regarding Morningstar DBRS credit ratings, including definitions, policies, and methodologies, is available on https://dbrs.morningstar.com.

Sensitivity Analysis: To assess the impact of changing the transaction parameters on the credit rating, Morningstar DBRS considered the following stress scenarios as compared with the parameters used to determine the credit rating (the base case):
-- Probability of Default Rates Used: Base-case PD of 3.6%, a 10% and 20% increase on the base-case PD.
-- Recovery Rates Used: Base-case recovery rate of 44.0% at the AAA (sf) stress level, a 10% and 20% decrease in the base-case recovery rate.

Morningstar DBRS concludes that a hypothetical increase of the base-case PD by 20% or a hypothetical decrease of the recovery rate by 20%, ceteris paribus, would each lead to a confirmation on the Class A Notes at AAA (sf). A scenario combining both an increase in the PD by 10% and a decrease in the recovery rate by 10% would also lead to a confirmation on the Class A Notes at AAA (sf).

For further information on Morningstar DBRS historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see: https://registers.esma.europa.eu/cerep-publication. For further information on Morningstar DBRS historical default rates published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a central repository, see https://data.fca.org.uk/#/ceres/craStats.

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

Lead Analyst: Helvia Meana, Assistant Vice President
Rating Committee Chair: Alfonso Candelas, Associate Managing Director
Initial Rating Date: 12 June 2020

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The credit rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: https://dbrs.morningstar.com/about/methodologies.

-- Master European Structured Finance Surveillance Methodology (4 February 2025)
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/447080
-- Rating CLOs Backed by Loans to European SMEs (19 November 2024) and SME Diversity Model v2.7.1.5., https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/443198
-- Global Methodology for Rating CLOs and Corporate CDOs (19 November 2024),
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/443207
-- Legal and Derivative Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions (19 November 2024),
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/443196
-- European RMBS Insight Methodology (19 February 2025),
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/448235
-- Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Originators and Servicers (18 September 2024),
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/439571
-- Interest Rate Stresses for European Structured Finance Transactions (24 September 2024),
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/439913
-- Morningstar DBRS Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors in Credit Ratings (13 August 2024), 
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/437781

A description of how Morningstar DBRS analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/439604.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit https://dbrs.morningstar.com or contact us at info-DBRS@morningstar.com.