Linklaters advises CREDIPAR on its first EUR 1 billion public STS securitisation

Linklaters has advised CREDIPAR, a leading player in the French vehicle financing market, on its first EUR 1 billion public “STS” (simple, transparent and standardised) securitisation. Société Générale acted as Arranger and Joint Lead Manager alongside Banco Santander, S.A. and ING Bank N.V. as Joint Lead Managers.

CREDIPAR is a subsidiary of PSA Banque France, one of the captive finance subsidiaries of Stellantis specialised in automotive financing, and Santander Consumer Finance, the division of Banco Santander specialised in consumer finance. CREDIPAR provides financing solutions, through leasing and credit, to end customers of Peugeot, Citroën and DS dealers in France, as well as the funding of vehicle stocks of these dealers.

This was an important transaction for CREDIPAR, as it enabled the refinancing of more than sixty thousand leasing contracts concluded in France with individuals and professionals for Peugeot, Citroën and DS vehicles. 

As part of this transaction, which closed on 28 June 2021, class A notes and class B notes with a total value of EUR 865.4 million, were issued by the French securitisation fund (fonds commun de titrisation) "Auto ABS French Leases 2021" and were listed and admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris. The class A and the class B notes are rated, respectively, AAA(sf) and AA+(sf) by S&P Global Ratings Europe Limited and AAA(sf) and AA(sf) by DBRS Ratings GmbH. Auto ABS French Leases 2021 also issued EUR 140.9 million of Class C bonds.

The Linklaters team consisted of Partner Patrice Doat, Managing Associate Guillaume Malaty, Associates Lucien Jarry and Julien Bourgeois (Structured Finance), and Managing Associate Antoine Galvier (Capital Markets).

Société Générale (as Arranger and Joint Lead Manager) and Banco Santander, S.A. and ING Bank N.V. (as Joint Lead Managers) were advised by Hogan Lovells.