Ashurst advises Deutsche Leasing on further public lease-backed securitisation transaction

Ashurst has once again advised Deutsche Sparkassen Leasing AG & Co. KG (Deutsche Leasing) on a public securitisation of a portfolio of equipment-lease receivables. 

This transaction consists of the issuance of bonds secured by receivables from leasing contracts for equipment lease assets in a total volume of EUR 650 million. The senior A-tranche was assigned the highest possible "AAA" credit rating by Fitch and Standard & Poor's and was successfully placed on the capital market by the Luxembourg issuer Limes Funding S.A., Compartment 2021-1. The subordinated B-tranche was retained, as envisaged, by Deutsche Leasing. The seller of the leasing receivables is Deutsche Leasing. The bonds were placed by Société Générale and Bayerische Landesbank as Joint Lead Managers and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and DZ BANK as Managers. The transaction achieved the status of 'Simple, Transparent and Standardised' (STS) securitisation transaction. 

Ashurst was instructed for the second time in succession by Deutsche Leasing, with the law firm having previously already set up the Luxembourg compartment for the inaugural public placement and advised Deutsche Leasing on its first public securitisation in 2019. The transaction at the time was subsequently awarded the GlobalCapital European Securitization Awards 2020 as best Debut Securitisation Issuer. 

The Ashurst team was led by partner Dr Martin Kaiser and included counsel Dr Sahra Demirbilek, senior associate Stephan Lehnen (all Global Markets, Frankfurt), Dr Detmar Loff (Bank Regulatory, Frankfurt), Dr Anders Kraft (Tax, Frankfurt) and other team members in London, Dublin and Luxembourg. 

Ashurst's securitisation team specialises in True Sale transactions and provides specialist advice on the securitisation of auto loans, auto leasing receivables, auto residual values and trade receivables. The team lead by Dr Martin Kaiser advises originators, arrangers, investors and trustees on all aspects of asset-backed securities.