Fitch withdraws ratings from stalled £170m Antares CMBS

Fitch has withdrawn its expected ratings and pre-sale note from the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £170m Antares 2015-1 CMBS deal, which looks increasingly unlikely to return to market.

The transaction is the securitisation of a single loan to refinance Kennedy Wilson’s Jupiter portfolio of 17 UK office and retail assets.

RBS tried to launch the deal in April but delayed the transaction because of poor market response. It released price guidance but a lack of interest, initially blamed on the amount of similar products already in the market, had put pressure on pricing.

The portfolio’s exposure to Aberdeen’s oil industry, under pressure because of the falling price of oil, was also floated as a reason for the deal’s lukewarm reception.

In a statement today, Fitch said: “The ratings have been withdrawn as they are no longer expected to convert to final ratings in the near term. Fitch has also withdrawn the pre-sale report for the transaction dated 2 April 2015. Fitch may assign the transaction expected ratings again in the future, following an updated analysis of the portfolio and the proposed structure.”

RBS was unavailable for comment but it is understood that Fitch consulted with the bank before making its move.

Antares had two classes of floating-rate notes: a £130.6m, class A note and a £39.4m class B. The Class A notes, rated A by both DBRS and Fitch, sit at a loan to value of 44.3% and were guided to price at 185bps over 3 month Libor. The loan-to-value of the Class B notes, rated BBB-, is 57.6% and they were forecast to price at 300bps over.

The notes had an expected maturity of December 2019 and a legal final maturity of December 2022. The 17 properties in the Jupiter portfolio have a remaining average loan term to next break of 7.3 years. The office and retail properties are located 56% in Scotland and 44% in England.