Six months after being acquired by Blackstone, Exeter Finance Corp. has completed its first-ever securitization ― a $200 million transaction that was privately placed with investors.
The securitization consisted of four tranches, with DBRS ratings ranging from triple-A through double-B, and Standard & Poor’s ratings ranging from double-A through double-B. The weighted average coupon was 3.7%.
Wells Fargo Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities were lead managers on the deal; Citigroup and Credit Suisse were co-managers.
“We’re very pleased with the amount of interest we received on our inaugural transaction and look forward to becoming a regular issuer as we continue to build out our platform,” said Exeter CEO Mark Floyd in a prepared statement. “Our banking partners did an outstanding job taking the Exeter story to the market, as evidenced by the level of participation we had in the transaction.”
With a $300 million portfolio, Irving, Texas-based Exeter operates via a decentralized branch model. Branch personnel do the marketing, underwriting, and front-end contract verifications, and when they visit dealerships, they can make lending decisions. Funding and collections, though, are controlled centrally.
