Solar subsidies suit FlexiGroup
The boom in solar panel installations is working for specialist financier FlexiGroup. More than half the loans in a A$250 million pool of loans securitised at the end of last week are for households looking for ways to trim their electricity bill.On Friday, FlexiGroup launched the securities through the Flexi ABS Trust 2012-1.This is the second securitisation of consumer receivables originated by Certegy Ezi-Pay, a firm acquired by FlexiGroup in 2008. In a report on the deal, Fitch Ratings said that solar energy products comprised 51 per cent per cent of the loans. Jewellery was the next most dominant product, accounting for 13 per cent of loans.The average yield on the (notionally "interest free") loans was 17.9 per cent in this pool, up from 17.3 per cent on a smaller pool of Certegy loans securitised last year. The average loan is for $2114.FlexiGroup sold $89 million in class A-1 notes, with a weighted average life of around three months, at 70 basis points over the bill rate.It sold $102 million of class A2 notes (with an average life of 1.3 years) at 150 basis points over the bill rate. The firm did not disclose the pricing on five remaining tranches.