—Hugh Leask
ABN Amro has issued €7.1 billion ($9.6 billion) of notes from its Dolphin Master Issuer residential mortgage-backed securities vehicle and €3.9 billion ($5.3 billion) of notes from its Goldfish Master Issuer program, which is backed by home loans guaranteed by the Dutch government.
Katja Pazelskaya, head of origination and structuring and deputy head of asset-based lending at ABN in Amsterdam, told TS the Dolphin notes were fully retained by ABN, while Goldfish was privately placed with several European investors. Both deals closed Tuesday.
At least one of the deals was anticipated to be taken up by investors, said one European syndicate bank official, noting that both vehicles are frequent issuers to the market. He said market chatter suggested bank investors had bought the Goldfish notes, but could not elaborate further.
Dolphin Series 2010-4 comprises four classes of floating rate-notes, rated AAA through BBB by DBRS, which are backed by a €30.6 billion ($41.7 billion) book of 181, 913 prime residential mortgages located in the Netherlands and originated by ABN subsidiaries. The €6.6 billion ($9 billion) AAA-rated tranche carries a coupon of three-month EURIBOR plus 1%, while the €156.2 million ($213.3 million) BBB-rated notes are set at 3-month EURIBOR plus 4%. Goldfish, meanwhile, comprised three €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) AAA-rated tranches of floating rate notes each set at 0.67%, 0.72% and 0.75% over 3-month EURIBOR.
The vehicles had been marketed by Fortis Bank Nederland prior to its merger with ABN in July. Pazelskaya, ex-global liquidity and funding treasurer at Fortis, had previously hinted to TS in June that a new public securitization from Dolphin could be rolled out in September, adding Dolphin is tailored toward international buyers, while domestic investors tended to favor Goldfish due to the Dutch government’s Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (TS 6/3).