-- Daniel O’Leary
At least two auto asset-backed deals will price this week while another will close next week. Santander Consumer USA’s $700.5 million S Drive Auto Receivables Trust 2010-2 and the $1.17 billion Hyundai Credit America sponsored Hyundai Auto Receivables Trust 2010-B are both expected to price tomorrow. Ally Master Owner Trust 2010-4, the other $772 million floor plan deal from Ally Financial, should price next week.
A New York ABS analyst said the Santander and Hyundai deals are doing well, with syndication officials expected to upsize the Santander deal before it closes next week. Price talk for SDRT 2010-2’s A3 class is rumoured to be around 60-65 basis points over LIBOR, while the A4 tranche on the Hyundai deal is whispered at 35-40 bps, she said.
Credit Suisse is lead manager on the Santander deal, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been mandated to sell Hyundai’s bonds. Standard & Poor’s gave Santander’s deal a AAA rating. Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Aaa rating to the Hyundai deal. Syndicate officials at Credit Suisse and B of A did not return phone calls.
Both issuers have closed one previous deal each this year. Santander launched the $1 billion SDRT 2010-1 on May 26. Hyundai last tapped the market in June with the $961 million HART 2010-A.
The researcher said Santander’s deal was pricing a little wider due to the non-prime auto loans backing it. “Both structures are relatively similar and plain vanilla,” she said.
The analyst said this week has been relatively quiet for auto ABS issuance. “We’ve been seeing four to five, or even six deals, a week close lately,” she said. “Two is a bit under the average. August has been pretty quiet all round, with only about $10 billion closing so far.”