New York, June 15, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service announced today that it has upgraded the ratings of the following notes issued by Halcyon Structured Asset Management CLO I Ltd.:
U.S.$31,300,000 Class C Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate Notes, Due 2018, Upgraded to Aa1 (sf); previously on August 1, 2011 Upgraded to Aa3 (sf);
U.S.$29,900,000 Class D Secured Deferrable Floating Rate Notes, Due 2018, Upgraded to A3 (sf); previously on August 1, 2011 Upgraded to Baa2 (sf).
RATINGS RATIONALE
According to Moody's, the rating actions taken on the notes are primarily a result of deleveraging of the senior notes and an increase in the transaction's overcollateralization ratios since the rating action in August 2011. Moody's notes that the Class A Notes have been paid down by approximately 36% or $110.6 million since the last rating action. Based on the latest trustee report dated May 11, 2012, the Class A/B, Class C and Class D overcollateralization ratios are reported at 145.58% 128.75% and 115.95%, respectively, versus June 2011 levels of 134.85%, 123.23% and 113.86%, respectively.
Moody's also notes that the deal has benefited from an improvement in the credit quality of the underlying portfolio since the last rating action in August 2011. Based on the May 2012 trustee report, the weighted average rating factor is currently 2562 compared to 2761 in June 2011.
Due to the impact of revised and updated key assumptions referenced in "Moody's Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published in June 2011, key model inputs used by Moody's in its analysis, such as par, weighted average rating factor, diversity score, and weighted average recovery rate, may be different from the trustee's reported numbers. In its base case, Moody's analyzed the underlying collateral pool to have a performing par and principal proceeds balance of $328.2 million, defaulted par of $6.9 million, a weighted average default probability of 16.98% implying a WARF of 2687, a weighted average recovery rate upon default of 49.31%, and a diversity score of 46. The default and recovery properties of the collateral pool are incorporated in cash flow model analysis where they are subject to stresses as a function of the target rating of each CLO liability being reviewed. The default probability is derived from the credit quality of the collateral pool and Moody's expectation of the remaining life of the collateral pool. The average recovery rate to be realized on future defaults is based primarily on the seniority of the assets in the collateral pool. In each case, historical and market performance trends and collateral manager latitude for trading the collateral are also factors.
Halcyon Structured Asset Management CLO I Ltd., issued in May 2006, is a collateralized loan obligation backed primarily by a portfolio of senior secured loans.
The principal methodology used in this rating was "Moody's Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" published in June 2011. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
Moody's modeled the transaction using a cash flow model based on the Binomial Expansion Technique, as described in Section 2.3 of the "Moody's Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations" rating methodology published in June 2011.
In addition to the base case analysis described above, Moody's also performed sensitivity analyses to test the impact on all rated notes of various default probabilities. Below is a summary of the impact of different default probabilities (expressed in terms of WARF levels) on all rated notes (shown in terms of the number of notches' difference versus the current model output, where a positive difference corresponds to lower expected loss), assuming that all other factors are held equal:
Moody's Adjusted WARF -- 20% (2150)
Class A-1: 0 Class A-2: 0 Class B: 0 Class C: +1 Class D: +2 Moody's Adjusted WARF + 20% (3225)
Class A-1: 0 Class A-2: 0 Class B: 0 Class C: -1 Class D: -2 Moody's notes that this transaction is subject to a high level of macroeconomic uncertainty, as evidenced by 1) uncertainties of credit conditions in the general economy and 2) the large concentration of speculative-grade debt maturing between 2014 and 2016 which may create challenges for issuers to refinance. CLO notes' performance may also be impacted by 1) the manager's investment strategy and behavior and 2) divergence in legal interpretation of CLO documentation by different transactional parties due to embedded ambiguities.
Sources of additional performance uncertainties are described below:
1) Deleveraging: The main source of uncertainty in this transaction is whether deleveraging from unscheduled principal proceeds will continue and at what pace. Deleveraging may accelerate due to high prepayment levels in the loan market and/or collateral sales by the manager, which may have significant impact on the notes' ratings.
2) Recovery of defaulted assets: Market value fluctuations in defaulted assets reported by the trustee and those assumed to be defaulted by Moody's may create volatility in the deal's overcollateralization levels. Further, the timing of recoveries and the manager's decision to work out versus sell defaulted assets create additional uncertainties. Moody's analyzed defaulted recoveries assuming the lower of the market price and the recovery rate in order to account for potential volatility in market prices.
Further information on Moody's analysis of this transaction is available on www.moodys.com.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph 3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies. Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt, this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider, this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following: parties involved in the ratings, public information, and confidential and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's did not receive or take into account a third-party assessment on the due diligence performed regarding the underlying assets or financial instruments related to the monitoring of this transaction in the past six months.
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Sange Lama Analyst Structured Finance Group Moody'sInvestors Service, Inc.250 Greenwich StreetNew York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376 SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653Ramon O. Torres Senior Vice President Structured Finance Group JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376 SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc.250 Greenwich StreetNew York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376 SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653(C) 2012 Moody's Investors Service, Inc. and/or its licensors and affiliates (collectively, "MOODY'S"). All rights reserved.
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