NewStar Financial Inc., an internally-managed commercial finance company, announced it completed a $398 million term debt securitization known as NewStar Commercial Loan Funding 2015-2. All floating rate classes of notes were priced at par.
NewStar Commercial Loan Funding 2015-2 was the company's 12th securitization since inception and part of a programmatic approach to its funding strategy. The notes were backed by a diversified portfolio of commercial loans originated by NewStar. The transaction was executed through a private offering via Rule 144A and Regulation S. Six classes of notes rated Aaa through Ba3 by Moody's and two classes rated AAA by Fitch, totaling approximately $228 million, were placed. NewStar retained a portion of the Class E Notes and the subordinated interests, which represented approximately 18% of the capital structure, or about $70 million. The deal was structured in a manner intended to satisfy European risk retention rules and included a small fixed rate tranche, rated Aaa/AAA, to meet specific investor demand.
"This transaction represents our twelfth CLO to date and our third deal of the year, which brings our total issuance to over $5 billion. Our leading track record of issuance in this market underscores the value investors place in NewStar's middle market franchise and credit management platform," said NewStar CEO, Tim Conway.
John Frishkopf, head of asset management and treasury at NewStar added, "We were also pleased by the speed and quality of execution by the Wells Fargo team and the level of support among repeat investors who continue to commit capital to our balance sheet securitization programs," he added.
NewStar Financial will serve as collateral manager of the CLO, which has a four- year reinvestment period. The notes were rated by Moody's Investors Service and the A-1 and A-2 classes were also rated by Fitch. All variable rate notes were priced to yield an initial weighted average of approximately Libor plus 2.68%.
Wells Fargo Securities was lead placement agent and Capital One Securities was co-lead placement agent.