Caja de Ahorros de Valencia, Castellón y Alicante (Bancaja), Spain's seventh-largest bank, is exploring new assets on its balance sheet to be incorporated into its securitization program. Felix Blas, financial manager, says securitization is part of the bank's strategy to diversify its funding base.
Bancaja has completed residential mortgage-backed securitizations and a collateralized debt obligation, and is now looking at securitizing large business loans and consumer assets, such as credit card receivables and personal loans, says Blas. He says a final decision has not been taken on whether to proceed with these new assets and would not elaborate on what would entice Bancaja to do so.
In the meantime, Bancaja is working on a CDO of loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises. The CDO will be Bancaja's second and will be roughly E1.2 billion, says Pilar Hoyo, another member of the bank's finance team. She says the deal may price later this year. Bancaja is in the market with a E1 billion RMBS deal, which is being co-lead managed by J.P. Morgan Securities. Blas says J.P. Morgan is responsible for selling only the single-A and triple-B tranches. The deal should be priced today.