Porsche AG has confirmed that it has issued another asset-backed security (ABS) bond in the USAthrough its subsidiary Porsche Financial Services Inc. headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, US, worth approximately US$530m. The private placement received top grades by rating agencies.
Porsche previously used this kind of refinancing twice in 2011, but this time was able to significantly reduce its credit spread in comparison to the previous transactions. The current average coupon rate offers just over 0.5%, representing highly attractive refinancing terms for Porsche.
Lutz Meschke, Porsche AG’’ Chief Financial Officer commented: “With this transaction we have achieved the lowest coupon rate ever in the US-American ABS lease term market.”
Purchasing investors of the ABS bond were insurance companies, pension funds, banks, asset managers and corporations.
Meschke added: “The overwhelming investor demand is mainly attributable to the confidence in Porsche as an issuer but also a result of perfect market timing. The significant oversubscription of the bond is further evidence of Porsche’s high ranking in the ABS bond market.”
The company noted that, given this positive response, it does not rule out further private placements in the US-American bond market.
The transaction was supported by J.P. Morgan and Barclays Capital as book runners and Deutsche Bank and Société Générale as co-managers.
