No demand for CMBS
The market for commercial, mortgage-backed securities has been afflicted this year by issuers that have not been able to refinance their issues on their scheduled maturity dates. Leda Property Group found itself in this situation in February, in relation to a $300 CMBS issue, but was subsequently able to arrange refinancing.Then in late June, Standard & Poor's placed the rating on the five tranches of notes issued by Becton CMBS No.1 Pty Ltd., on CreditWatch with negative implications pending clarification of the refinancing of the transaction. Last week, Becton advised that it will be staggering the redemption of the notes for which payment was due this week. Asset sales will be undertaken to allow the notes to be progressively redeemed on September 30, November 30 and January 18, 2011. The legal maturity date remains unchanged at January 28, 2012.There has been no response from S&P to this announcement, as yet.Meanwhile, Investa Property Group announced that it will be repaying A$310 million of CMBS when it reaches its scheduled maturity date next month. Investa said it had arranged refinancing through its bankers as the banks are providing cheaper debt than the capital markets. Australand Property Group shares this view. It has A$268 million of CMBS coming due in March next year but has just completed a A$1.3 billion syndicated loan refinancing and will use the proceeds from this to redeem the CMBS.