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TEXT-S&P assigns (P) AAA rating to Orient Corp Auto Loan notes

(The following statement was released by the ratings agency).

LONDON, May 23 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had assigned its preliminary 'AAA' ratings to Oracle Eta Special Purpose Co. (Oracle Eta)'s JPY31.3 billion bonds ('tokutei shasai') classes A through M. The bonds are ultimately backed by a pool of auto loan receivables originated by Orient Corp. (Orico).

The preliminary ratings are based on information as of May 23, 2003. Subsequent information may result in the assignment of final ratings that differ from the preliminary ratings. Standard & Poor's ratings address the timely payment of interest and full payment of principal by the legal final maturity date of June 2008.

The bonds will be secured by a JPY31.3 billion senior certificate, which is in turn backed by a pool of auto loan receivables originated by Orico. The pool is comprised of approximately JPY36 billion of auto loan receivables that were transferred to a trust created with Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. Ltd. Orico will retain the subordinated certificate of roughly JPY4.7 billion issued by the trust. The transaction will use cash flow generated from the auto loan receivables to redeem the rated bonds.

The preliminary ratings are based on: -- Overcollateralization of approximately JPY4.7 billion, or about 13% of the securitized pool; -- A reserve account to be funded at closing with about JPY470 million; -- A relatively high excess spread that is expected to continue over the life of the transaction, and can be used to redeem part of the principal of the bonds equivalent to the amount of defaulted auto loans; -- The status of Oracle Eta as a special-purpose, bankruptcy-remote entity; and -- The establishment of redemption alteration events, which will shift the redemption of the bonds to a pass-through structure, should such events occur.