DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings to German Residential Funding 2013-1 Limited

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) has today assigned provisional ratings to the following classes of Commercial Real Estate Loan Backed Floating-Rate Notes due 2024 (collectively, the Notes) to be issued by German Residential Funding 2013-1 Limited:

-- AAA (sf) to Class A
-- AA (sf) to Class B
-- A (sf) to Class C
-- BBB (sf) to Class D
-- BBB (low) (sf) to Class E

All trends are Stable.

German Residential Funding 2013-1 Limited is a securitisation of six loans, four fixed-rate loans and two floating-rate loans (the Loans), with a combined balance of EUR 1,998,042,644. All of the Loans are cross-collateralised and cross-defaulted with each other. The fixed-rate loans will have a combined initial balance of EUR 1,898,140,511 and the floating-rate loan will have an initial balance of EUR 99,902,132. Each of the Loans is being made to two Borrowers, both of which are subsidiaries of the Sponsor. The Sponsor is GAGFAH S.A. (GAGFAH), the largest publicly listed owner of residential multifamily property in Germany. The transaction is arranged by Goldman Sachs International for the benefit of the Sponsor, with the purpose of providing capital to refinance a loan that was securitised in a previous CMBS transaction, GRF 2006-1.

The collateral portfolio for the transaction consists of 61,613 residential units, 469 commercial units, one senior home, 11,953 parking units and 827 other units. The residential, commercial and senior home units represent a total rentable area of 3,883,092 square metres. All of the properties are located in Germany. Property management services for the portfolio are provided by a subsidiary of the Sponsor.

The final legal maturity of the Notes is in August 2024, six years beyond the maturity of the loans if no extension option is exercised by the Borrower or the Servicer. This is believed to be sufficient time to enforce and repay bondholders, given the unique security structure and the property’s jurisdiction.

Finalisation of ratings is contingent upon receipt of final documents conforming to information already received by DBRS.

Notes:
The principal methodologies applicable are European CMBS Rating Methodology, Legal Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions, Operational Risk Assessment for European Structured Finance Servicers, Swap Criteria for European Structured Finance Transactions and Unified Interest Rate Model for European Securitisations, which can be found on www.dbrs.com under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank AG (London Branch), Taurus 2013 (GMF1) PLC, GAGFAH S.A. and Jones Lang LaSalle. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating to be of satisfactory quality.

This rating concerns a newly issued financial instrument. This is the first DBRS rating on this financial instrument.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings Limited are subject to EU regulations only.

The full report providing additional analytical detail is available by clicking on the link under Related Research at the right of the screen or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

For additional information on this rating, please see Linking Document: European CMBS under Related Research to the right or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

Lead Analyst: Scott Goedken
Rating Committee Chair: Rich Carlson
Initial Rating Date: 3 June 2013