Fitch Ratings Upgrades Crest Dartmouth Street 2003-1, Ltd.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. upgrades three classes of notes and affirms two classes of notes issued by Crest Dartmouth Street 2003-1, Ltd. (Crest Dartmouth). These rating actions are the result of Fitch's annual rating review process and are effective immediately: --$275,901,832 class A notes affirmed at 'AAA'; --$13,125,000 class B-1 notes upgraded to 'AA-' from 'A+'; --$21,000,000 class B-2 notes upgraded to 'AA-' from 'A+; --$14,875,000 class C notes upgraded to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'; --$12,250,000 class D notes affirmed at 'BB'. Crest Dartmouth is a collateralized debt obligation Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) A general inclusive term which covers Collateralized Bond Obligations, Collateralized Loan Obligations, and Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, (CDO (Collaborative Data Objects) A programming interface from Microsoft for accessing MAPI-based e-mail, calendaring and scheduling servers. Originally called "OLE Messaging" and "Active Messaging," CDO wraps the Enhanced MAPI library into a COM object that provides the ) that closed on April 10, 2003. The portfolio consists of 57.5% real estate investment trusts (REITs), 37.9% commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS CMBS See: Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities ), and 4.6% commercial mortgage loans. MFS Investment Management MFS Investment Management, formerly Massachusetts Financial Services, is a Boston, Massachusetts-based financial services firm. In its publicity, MFS claims to have invented the mutual fund. The current chair of the company is Robert Pozen. , the collateral administrator, selected the portfolio prior to closing and is limited to sales of credit-impaired, credit risk, and defaulted securities. The upgrade of the class B and C notes is driven primarily by the improved credit quality of the portfolio and the seasoning of the collateral. Since Fitch's last rating action on July 2, 2004, 13.4% of the portfolio has been upgraded. The weighted average rating of the portfolio remains stable at 'BBB/BBB-', with only 11% of the portfolio rated below investment grade. The portfolio has also benefited from another year of seasoning, as the weighted average life of the portfolio has decreased to 5.4 years from 6.4 years. There are currently no defaulted or distressed securities Distressed Securities A company that is currently going through hard times and, as a result, the market value of its securities or assets fall substantially in value. Notes: These securities then become attractive to bottom fishers or vultures. in the portfolio. Additionally, approximately $3.1 million of the class A notes has been redeemed over the same time period, leading to modest increases in the four overcollateralization (OC) ratios. Approximately 98.5% of the original class A note balance currently remains outstanding. Each of Crest Dartmouth's four OC and four interest coverage tests are currently in compliance with their respective triggers. The rating of the class A notes addresses the likelihood that investors will receive timely payments of interest, as per the governing documents, as well as the aggregate principal amount by the stated maturity date. The ratings of the class B-1, B-2, C, and D notes address the likelihood that investors will receive ultimate interest payments, as per the governing documents, as well as the aggregate principal amount by the stated maturity date. Fitch will continue to monitor and review this transaction for future rating adjustments. Additional deal information and historical data are available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com. For more information on the Fitch VECTOR Model, see 'Global Rating Criteria for Collateralized Debt Obligations,' dated Sept. 13, 2004, also available at www.fitchratings.com. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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