Liberty prices $1 billion SME issue

Liberty Financial Pty Ltd (Liberty) has priced the Liberty Series 2023-1 SME transaction, its seventy-eighth term securitisation and largest ever SME issuance. The Liberty Series 2023-1 SME Trust is Liberty’s twelfth issue of securities backed by a portfolio of its innovative small-to-medium enterprises (SME) loans bringing Liberty’s total SME securitisations to A$6 billion.

Given strong investor demand across all offered tranches, the transaction was upsized from a launch volume of A$500 million to a final issue size of A$1 billion. Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) is the sole Arranger. WBC is also a Joint Lead Manager along with National Australia Bank. The transaction comprises A$1 billion of notes rated by Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s).

• The A$650 million Class A1 notes to be rated Aaa(sf) with a weighted average life of about 2.4 years, priced at a margin of 145 basis points over one-month BBSW.

• The A$200 million Class A2 notes to be rated Aaa(sf) with a weighted average life of about 3.6 years, priced at a margin of 180 basis points over one-month BBSW.

The pricing of the Class B, C, D, E and F notes to be rated Aa2(sf), A2(sf), Baa2(sf), Ba2(sf) and B2(sf) is not disclosed.

The issue consists of a pool of SME mortgages with a weighted average loan-to-value ratio of 60% and is seasoned at 24 months. The Liberty Series 2023-1 SME transaction will settle on 18 October 2023.

Peter Riedel, Chief Financial Officer at Liberty, said: “Liberty is a leader in providing households and small businesses with the freedom to choose from a wide range of products and services to meet their financial needs. We are grateful for the support investors have extended to our business.”

Liberty has a rating of “STRONG” from Standard & Poor’s for the servicing of commercial mortgages as well as prime and non-prime residential mortgages and auto loans. Liberty is also Australia’s only investment-grade rated non-bank issuer (BBB-, outlook positive by S&P) and one of only a few lenders with an unblemished capital markets record with no ratings downgrades or charge-offs ever experienced by its securitisation program.