C » Topics » QSPE TOB trusts

This excerpt taken from the C 8-K filed Oct 13, 2009.
QSPE TOB trusts provide the Company with the same exposure as proprietary TOB trusts and are not consolidated by the Company.

 

Credit rating distribution is based on the external rating of the municipal bonds within the TOB trusts, including any credit enhancement provided by monoline insurance companies or the Company in the primary or secondary markets, as discussed below. The total assets for proprietary TOB Trusts (consolidated and non-consolidated) includes $0.9 billion of assets where the Residuals are held by a hedge fund that is consolidated and managed by the Company.

 

The TOB trusts fund the purchase of their assets by issuing Floaters along with Residuals, which are frequently less than 1% of a trust’s total funding. The tenor of the Floaters matches the maturity of the TOB trust and is equal to or shorter than the tenor of the municipal bond held by the trust, and the Floaters bear interest rates that are typically reset weekly to a new market rate (based on the SIFMA index). Floater holders have an option to tender the Floaters they hold back to the trust periodically. Customer TOB trusts issue the Floaters and Residuals to third parties. Proprietary and QSPE TOB trusts issue the Floaters to third parties and the Residuals are held by the Company.

 

Approximately $3.9 billion of the municipal bonds owned by TOB trusts have an additional credit guarantee provided by the Company. In all other cases, the assets are either unenhanced or are insured with a monoline insurance provider in the primary market or in the secondary market. While the trusts have not encountered any adverse credit events as defined in the underlying trust agreements, certain monoline insurance companies have experienced downgrades. In these cases, the Company has proactively managed the TOB programs by applying additional secondary market insurance on the assets or proceeding with orderly unwinds of the trusts.

 

The Company, in its capacity as remarketing agent, facilitates the sale of the Floaters to third parties at inception of the trust and facilitates the reset of the Floater coupon and tenders of Floaters. If Floaters are tendered and the Company (in its role as remarketing agent) is unable to find a new investor within a specified period of time, it can declare a failed remarketing (in which case the trust is unwound) or may choose to buy the Floaters into its own inventory and may continue to try to sell it to a third-party investor. While the level of the Company’s inventory of Floaters fluctuates, the Company held approximately $1.9 billion of Floater inventory related to the Customer, Proprietary and QSPE TOB programs as of December 31, 2008.

 

If a trust is unwound early due to an event other than a credit event on the underlying municipal bond, the underlying municipal bond is sold in the secondary market. If there is an accompanying shortfall in the trust’s cash flows to fund the redemption of the Floaters after the sale of the underlying municipal bond, the trust draws on a liquidity agreement in an amount equal to the shortfall. Liquidity agreements are generally provided to the trust directly by the Company. For customer TOBs where the Residual is less than 25% of the trust’s capital structure, the Company has a reimbursement agreement with the Residual holder under which the Residual holder reimburses the Company for any payment made under the liquidity arrangement. Through this reimbursement agreement, the Residual holder remains economically exposed to fluctuations in value of the municipal bond. These reimbursement agreements are actively margined based on changes in value of the underlying municipal bond to mitigate the Company’s counterparty credit risk. In cases where a third party provides liquidity to a proprietary or QSPE TOB trust, a similar reimbursement arrangement is made whereby the Company (or a consolidated subsidiary of the Company) as Residual holder absorbs any losses incurred by the liquidity provider. As of December 31, 2008, liquidity agreements provided with respect to customer TOB trusts totaled $7.1 billion, offset by reimbursement agreements in place with a notional amount of $5.5 billion. The remaining exposure relates to TOB transactions where the Residual owned by the customer is at least 25% of the bond value at the inception of the transaction. In addition, the Company has provided liquidity arrangements with a notional amount of $6.5 billion to QSPE TOB trusts and other non-consolidated proprietary TOB trusts described above.

 

The Company considers the customer and proprietary TOB trusts (excluding QSPE TOB trusts) to be variable interest entities within the scope of FIN 46(R). Because third-party investors hold the Residual and Floater interests in the customer

 

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TOB trusts, the Company’s involvement and variable interests include only its role as remarketing agent and liquidity provider. On the basis of the variability absorbed by the customer through the reimbursement arrangement or significant residual investment, the Company does not consolidate the Customer TOB trusts. The Company’s variable interests in the Proprietary TOB trusts include the Residual as well as the remarking and liquidity agreements with the trusts. On the basis of the variability absorbed through these contracts (primarily the Residual), the Company generally consolidates the Proprietary TOB trusts. Finally, certain proprietary TOB trusts and QSPE TOB trusts are not consolidated by application of specific accounting literature. For the nonconsolidated proprietary TOB trusts and QSPE TOB trusts, the Company recognizes only its residual investment on its balance sheet at fair value and the third-party financing raised by the trusts is off-balance sheet.

 

The following table summarizes selected cash flow information related to municipal bond securitizations for the years 2008, 2007 and 2006:

 

In billions of dollars

 

2008

 

2007

 

2006

 

Proceeds from new securitizations

 

$

1.2

 

$

10.5

 

 

Cash flows received on retained interests and other net cash flows

 

0.5

 

 

 

 

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