(Repeat for additional subscribers)
July 22 (Reuters) - (The following statement was released by the rating agency)
Fitch Ratings expects to assign the following ratings and Rating Outlooks to the Ford Credit Auto Lease Trust 2014-B notes:
--$280,000,000 class A-1 'F1+sf';
--$142,000,000 class A-2A 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--$425,000,000 class A-2B 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--$376,000,000 class A-3 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--$130,000,000 class A-4 'AAAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--$76,050,000 class B 'AAsf'; Outlook Stable;
--$70,950,000 class C 'NRsf'.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
Strong Credit Quality: Credit quality for the pool is consistent with that of recent pools. The weighted average (WA) Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) score is 746 and WA original term is 34.1 months, with 79.14% of the leases with terms of 36 months or more. The pool is geographically diverse with approximately 10 months of seasoning and comprises 100% new vehicles.
Adequate Credit Enhancement Structure: 2014-B is a sequential-pay structure. Initial hard credit enhancement (CE) for the class A notes totals 20.40% (8.70% subordinated class B and C notes, 11.20% initial overcollateralization, and 0.50% reserve).
Consistent Lease Maturities: 2014-B consists of 71.73% undiscounted base residual value (RV), which is in line with prior pools. The lease maturities are well distributed. However, there are six months that represent more than 5% of the total base RV with a highest single-month period in February 2017 accounting for 7.41% and 56.63% of the pool maturing two years following close.
Evolving Wholesale Market: The U.S. wholesale vehicle market has remained strong in recent years. However, increasing off-lease vehicle supply and pressure from increased production levels could lead to decreased residual realization during the life of the transaction.
Stable Corporate Health: Fitch currently rates the long-term IDR of Ford (the parent of Ford Credit) and Ford Credit 'BBB-' with a Positive Rating Outlook. Consistent Origination/Underwriting/Servicing: Ford Credit demonstrates good capabilities as originator, underwriter and servicer. This is evidenced by historical delinquency, credit, and residual value loss performance of its managed portfolio and securitizations. Fitch deems Ford Credit capable of adequately servicing 2014-B.
Legal Structure Integrity: The legal structure of the transaction should provide that a bankruptcy of Ford Credit would not impair the timeliness of payments on the securities.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
Unanticipated decreases in the value of returned vehicles and/or increases in the frequency of defaults and loss severity on defaulted receivables could produce loss levels higher than the base case. This in turn could result in negative rating actions on the notes. Fitch evaluated the sensitivity of the ratings assigned to Ford Credit Auto Lease Trust 2014-B to increased credit and residual losses over the life of the transaction.
Fitch's analysis found that the transaction displays some sensitivity to increased defaults and credit losses, showing downgrades of one rating category under Fitch's 1.5x base case loss scenario. Additionally, downgrades of one or two rating categories were seen under Fitch's severe (2.5x base case loss) scenario. The transaction shows significantly more sensitivity to residual loss volatility. As such, under its severe residual loss scenario, Fitch would expect to downgrade the class of notes by two or more rating categories.
The presale report is available at 'www.fitchratings.com' or by clicking on the below link.
Link to Fitch Ratings' Report: Ford Credit Auto Lease Trust 2014-B (US ABS)
http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=752565