Liberty and Calibre get the market rolling
There's more movement in the asset-backed market, with Liberty Financial pricing $235 million of bonds secured by commercial mortgages and Calibre Financial Services roadshowing $200 million of residential mortgages.If Calibre can agree terms with buyers it will be the firm's debut in this market. The Calibre pool is 100 per cent prime with an average loan to valuation ratio of 72 per cent.Ross Valentine, a former managing director of Australian Mortgage Securities, runs Calibre. The firm is one of a handful of successful recent entries into Australia's mortgage funding segment.Calibre, like all issuers, now has three recent issues against which to benchmark pricing. The firm is angling for pricing between the 40 basis points paid by Macquarie Bank on a Puma deal two weeks ago and the 53 basis points paid by Rams this week.Liberty Financial priced its debut CMBS issue of $235 million yesterday. The $192 million Class A tranche was priced at 55 basis points over the 30 day bank bill swap rate.The $31 million Class B tranche was priced at 100 basis points over swap.The average loan to valuation ratio on this pool of small business loans is 67 per cent. Liberty has security over commercial and residential property.IMB sold the last CMBS issue sold before the credit market crisis, with a $250 million issue in May.In IMB's case the AAA rated tranche was priced at a margin of 16 basis points over the 30 day bank bill swap rate.Liberty's pricing was in line with the Rams $300 million RMBS issue priced on Wednesday.Rams will pay 53 basis points over the 30 day bank bill swap rate for its $291 million AAA rated Class A tranche.Loans in the Rams portfolio have a 66 per cent average loan to valuation ratio. Eighteen per cent of the loans are low doc.Last week PUMA priced a $500 million ABS issue, paying 40 basis points over swap for the $485 million Class A tranche.In June the Macquarie Bank mortgage funder issued a $750 million RMBS, pricing the senior tranche at 18 basis points over swap.