Braunschweig, 27 March 2023. Volkswagen Financial Services is continuing with its diversified refinancing strategy and has become the first company in the market to place an auto ABS transaction (ABS=Asset Backed Security) based on a securitized pool of leasing contracts in Swedish kronor. "With this auto ABS transaction, we are not only setting a completely new market standard in Sweden, but also laying the foundation for further growth in the leasing business, which, as in other markets, is becoming increasingly popular," says Dirk Bauer, Head of Markets at Treasury of Volkswagen Bank GmbH.
The transaction, with a receivables volume of SEK 9.1 billion (approximately EUR 813 million), is backed by a pool of leasing contracts of Volkswagen Finans Sverige (VFS). In a private placement, tranche A priced at a floating rate of 100 bps above 1-month STIBOR and tranche B at a floating rate of 160 bps above 1-month STIBOR.
The Class A tranche, with a volume of SEK 6.56 billion, has achieved the highest rating from the rating agencies Moody's Investors Service with Aaa (sf), DBRS Morningstar with AAA (sf), and Scope Ratings with AAA (sf). The Class B tranche, with a volume of SEK 0.91 billion, has achieved ratings from the same agencies of Aa3 (sf), AA(low) (sf) and AA- (sf), respectively.
As part of the transaction, a diversified pool of receivables from more than 40,000 leasing contracts have been securitized.
The first auto ABS transaction in Sweden is one of several recent international ABS activities of Volkswagen Financial Services. Most recently, inaugural ABS transactions were also placed for Volkswagen Financial Services in Poland and Belgium.