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With temperatures plummeting across the continent, winter has arrived in Europe. It seems that the securitization market is following suit too, with everything starting to move that bit slower.

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Slow movement is to some degree what is happening at anatomic level when temperatures get colder. Essentially, particles in the air vibrate more slowly and produce less kinetic energy, and therefore less heat. So, the analogy to European ABS works at an even deeper level!

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Everything is just starting to take that bit longer. Deals slated to price within a working week get bumped into the following week, deals that should look like pricing by Friday are stuck on IPTs issued a few days before.

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But while physics has laws, ABS has exceptions, and one such exception was Santander’s highly seasoned Spanish RMBS, the €750m Santander Residential 1.

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I couldn’t quite believe my eyes to learn that its actually the first time since 2022 that investors have had the chance to have a full auction over Prime Spanish RMBS paper.

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Since Spanish issuance is set for its own record-breaking year, you’d be forgiven for assuming that within it, there must have been some Prime RMBS paper too. And while this has been a bumper Q4 with volumes exceeding €18bn, Spanish deals of late have barely featured.

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So, with all that in mind, the leads had rarity value and a welcome change from the last few months to offer investors. Plus, the portfolio was highly seasoned, meaning around 35% of the pool came from mortgages that began between 2005-2010, which as you might imagine, could be seen as slightly riskier collateral.

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That meant the €639m AAAs were likely to offer a bit of juice, although €465m of that was a protected order. Starting with IPTs at100-area, and offering between mid-100s and 400bps for the remaining tranches, investors flocked to Residential 1.

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Coverage ended 2.11x, 5.5x, 3.2x, and 6.1x down the capital stack. The leads only tightened slightly before pricing, and those who managed to muscle their way through the protected orders, ended the process feeling pretty chipper, with juice in hand.

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Elsewhere, it has been a much more frigid affair with the likes of Younited Credit and Fairbridge, the Dutch RMBS from a medley of buy-to-let lenders, taking a bit longer than expected to finish up. Younited’s €198.4mItalian Consumer ABS, Youni Italy 2025-2 did eventually price late on Friday, while Fairbridge is still in the market.

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However, one sign of light comes from the German renewables company, Enpal. They made headlines in 2024 for being the first public Solar ABS issuer via Golden Ray,  and this time they’re back with a consumer ABS that includes loans for the purpose of getting borrowers residential solar and residential heat pumps.

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The deal also meets ICMA Green Bond Principles, and the notes are classified as Secured Green Collateral Bonds. So, a good day on the ESG-front when that eventually prices.

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Gregor Buckhart, SVP of Asset Financing at Enpal was alongside me at the LSEG UK Securitization Summit on Tuesday, and he spoke about “hoping” to bring a second edition of Golden Ray before the year’s out.

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I joked that time’s fast running out to get done, but clearly my journalistic instincts have left me as it didn’t even register in my mind that Enpal would be looking to hit screens just a few hours later.

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Interestingly though, that exciting deal is not expected to price until the week commencing 1^st of December, giving leads nearly a two-week runway.

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They are not alone in this strategy either, which is a rather recent development. The most recent Vantage Data Centre deal, and the aforementioned deals from Younited Credit and the Dutch BTL Fairbridge have all been marketing across multiple weekends.

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Looking further ahead, one would imagine that there’s not long left for any new issuers to hit screens if two weeks becomes the end-of-year de-facto execution timeline.

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That’s all from me today. Now, it’s back to watching highlights from Arsenal’s thumping 4-1 win over Spurs! And hopefully, it warms up soon too.

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Have a great week,

Tom

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