European Securitization Market Buoyed by Third Quarter Results

The European securitization market is on target to meet 20% year-on-year growth expectations by the end of 2002 after an impressive third quarter performance, Kurt Sampson, managing director at Standard & Poor’s European Structured Finance Ratings group, said. ‘Despite the current economic downturn, the market has shown a consistently strong growth pattern,’ he said. ‘The fourth quarter pipeline remains robust and we believe 20% growth is possible, provided there are no further economic shocks.’ Mr. Sampson added that investor demand for plain vanilla asset-backed bonds in particular remains strong following their relatively strong performance vis-à-vis other sectors of the European fixed-income markets. Publicly rated European securitization issuance ended the third quarter of 2002 24.2% higher at $39.5 billion compared with $31.2 billion a year earlier. A total of 50 transactions closed, nine more than in 2001. Volumes for the first nine months of this year are also strong, up 25% at $109.5 billion compared with $87.7 billion a year earlier, based on Standard & Poor’s assessment of the market.

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