Hispamer, a subsidiary of Banco Santander Centro Hispano, is preparing a E1 billion debut auto loan securitization. The mandate for the deal was won by J.P. Morgan Securities last week. The deal, which is expected to be the first in a series, should be priced in late November or early December. Arturo Miranda, v.p. securitization at J.P. Morgan, says the deal will be one of the most important to originate from Spain this year because Hispamer is a first-time issuer with an E20 billion pan-European loan book. This deal will be backed solely by Spanish assets.
Miranda says the mandate was hotly contested in the European asset-backed banking community because Hispamer is beginning an issuance program. If a bank gets in on the first deal, it will likely win mandates for two or three more, he says. Rival bankers who also pitched for the deal say J.P. Morgan won the mandate by foregoing its fees. However, Miranda says that was not the case. "There were cheaper offers than ours," he responds. He declined to give details of the fees the firm will earn on the deal.
Spain has become a very competitive market for securitization and issuers there are known for their parsimony when it comes to paying investment-banking fees. "[Spanish companies] pay [next-to-nothing]," quips one London banker. "Deals are bid for on an all-in basis and people are fairly suicidal about their bids," says another. For example, Deutsche Bank is said to have bid 22 basis points all-in for the Bankinter4 deal it executed recently (BW, 9/9).