Consumer lender and personal loan group Plenti has announced a $280 million asset-backed securities transaction, the first to be backed by renewable energy and personal loan receivables.
The pricing achieved on the transaction substantially reduces Plenti’s funding costs. The reduced equity requirement is relative to Plenti’s renewable energy and personal loan warehouse facility, which releases capital back to the business to fund further loan book growth.
Plenti has revealed that $65 million of notes are green certified under the Climate Bonds Standard with equity contribution reduced to 2.5% of the underlying loan receivables, while 76% of the notes are rated Aaa by Moody’s.
Similar to Plenti’s inaugural automotive ABS issue last year, the credit support required by Moody’s at each rating level reflects the exceptional credit performance and profile of the underlying renewable energy and personal loans.
Plenti’s chief financial officer Miles Drury (pictured) considered the transaction a success.
“The successful completion of Plenti’s second ABS transaction – our first backed by renewable energy and personal loans – will further diversify and deepen our funding structures while reducing our cost of funding, two key strategic objectives for Plenti,” Drury said.
“Despite a backdrop of geopolitical instability and market volatility, we were pleased with investor support for the transaction which demonstrates their confidence in the Plenti business and our ongoing growth opportunity.”
Drury said the inclusion of a substantial green-certified tranche in the transaction would support Plenti’s ambition of helping Australian households transition to renewable energy and improve their carbon footprint.
The notes will be retained by Plenti where the proportion of total notes will be subordinated to the relevant class of notes.
NAB acted as the arranger and joined Deutsche Bank acted as joint-lead managers of the transaction.
