Ford Credit Europe is likely to be the next European auto lender to sell dealer floor plan bonds. Renault is due to sell the first public European floor plan securitization later this month (BW, 1/10), and while no further public deals have yet been mandated, other issuers are eyeing the market. Ford is likely to come before the captive finance arms of other lenders, such as Volkswagen.
Ford's European arm may tap the market soon, in either a private or public transaction. "Having successfully securitized retail loans, it makes sense to turn to dealer floor plans as another avenue for funding," said Peter Davies, securitization manager at FCE in Brentwood, U.K.
FCE executed a dealer floor plan deal privately in late 2004, securitizing €800 million of assets from Spain and France, said Davies. He added there are no obstacles to Ford's doing another deal in either the private or public market. Citigroup was the lead bank on Ford's private deal, and is joint-lead underwriter with Société Générale on Renault's upcoming public deal.
Another potential issuer, Volkswagen Financial Services, sees a dealer floor plan deal as a 2006 event at the earliest, according to David Schulz, team leader for asset-backed securities in Braunschweig, Germany. He said VW plans to securitize more of its consumer loan portfolio before tapping its dealer floor plan portfolio. "We are considering the asset class, but first want to be sure our consumer portfolio--which is three times the size of the floor plan portfolio--is fully tapped and liquid," he said.