/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR

/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR_Public/240808.mbx T R O U B L E D C O M P A N Y R E P O R T E R E U R O P E Thursday, August 8, 2024, Vol. 25, No. 159 Headlines G E R M A N Y KAEFER SE: Fitch Affirms Then Withdraws 'BB+' IDR, Stable Outlook PBD GERMANY: Fitch Hikes Rating on Class F Notes to 'BB+sf' I R E L A N D TRINITAS EURO II: S&P Assigns Prelim B- (sf) Rating to F-R-R Notes N E T H E R L A N D S VEON LTD: S&P Assigns 'BB-' Rating to New Senior Unsecured Notes U N I T E D K I N G D O M ANARCHY BREW: FRP to Lead Administration Proceedings BLETCHLEY PARK 2024-1: S&P Assigns B-(sf) Rating to Class X2 Notes DYMAG GROUP: FRP Named as Administrator for Wheel Manufacturer FUEL PROPERTIES: Begbies Named as Administrators LONDON WALL 2024-01: S&P Assigns Prelim 'B' Rating to Cl. X Notes NEW ENGINEERING: Alvarez & Marsal Named as Administrators NOTTINGHAM BREAKDOWN: PKF Smith Cooper Named as Administrators UNITED INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTORS: Placed in Administration - - - - - ============= G E R M A N Y ============= KAEFER SE: Fitch Affirms Then Withdraws 'BB+' IDR, Stable Outlook ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fitch Ratings has affirmed KAEFER SE & Co. KG (KAEFER) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' with a Stable Outlook, and simultaneously withdrawn the rating. The affirmation reflects the group's improved leverage profile following equity injection by new shareholders in 2022 and subsequent debt repayment, sound profitability and solid business profile. The group's credit profile is mainly limited by its fairly small but increasing scale of operations. The Stable Outlook reflects high current leverage headroom and expected continued resilient performance supported by a solid order backlog, continued sound bidding discipline and ongoing cost- saving initiatives. Fitch Ratings has chosen to withdraw KAEFER's rating for commercial reasons. Fitch will no longer provide ratings or analytical coverage of KAEFER. Key Rating Drivers Strong Leverage Profile: Fitch expects EBITDA gross leverage to gradually decrease towards about 1x in 2027 from 1.4x in 2023 on sustainable earnings growth. Fitch believes that its EUR144 million cash contribution injected by the new shareholders in 2022 and subsequent debt repayment have provided KAEFER with sufficient leverage headroom to undertake small to medium-sized acquisitions or invest in organic growth. Its prudent financial discipline is supported by management's and owners' commitment to a conservative capital structure with an internally defined net debt/EBITDA of below 2.0x, which Fitch views as achievable. EBITDA Margins to Improve: Fitch forecasts EBITDA margins to gradually improve to around 8.0% in 2027 from 7.0% in 2023. This will be driven by margin-accretive acquisitions, an exit from loss-making or low profitability contracts/branches, cost restructuring and better fixed-cost absorption (on revenue growth), bidding discipline on new-build projects and a contractual ability to pass on higher costs to customers. Fitch believes the margin improvement will not compromise the high share of lower-margin maintenance services in revenue (compared with new-build) as such services are lower-risk and provide high revenue visibility. Positive Through-the-Cycle FCF: Fitch expects the group to generate positive through-the-cycle FCF. Fitch expects cash flow generation to be supported by mid-to-high single-digit annual revenue growth, gradually increasing operating margins and normalising working-capital requirement and capex. Fitch assumes high capex at 3.2% of revenue in 2024 due to higher investments in scaffolding to service new contracts, before it normalises at 2.5% in the following two years. Defensive, Diversified Business Profile: KAEFER's business profile benefits from a wide array of services, with around 200 different offering and industry combinations, across new-build (25%-30% of revenue) and maintenance services (70%-75%). It also has good end-market diversification and a strong geographical mix with a meaningful regional presence. Its comparatively low-pricing-risk contract portfolio, primarily comprising contracts based on unit rates or reimbursable costs, supports earnings predictability in a cost-inflationary environment (staff and material costs respectively at around 50% and 30% of revenue). Small but Increasing Scale: Fitch forecasts KAEFER's revenue will grow to around EUR2.8 billion by end-2027, but it nevertheless remains small in the broader engineering and construction (E&C) services sector, which constrains its rating. The new funds injected by SMS and Altor will facilitate acquisitions in the fragmented market of insulation, access solutions, surface protection and passive fire protection, while a focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and renewable energy projects taps into current decarbonisation trends. Derivation Summary KAEFER's defensive business model shows strong 'BB' category attributes, with an emphasis on its broadly diversified operations across geographies, end-markets and customers. This is positive for the credit profile, counterbalancing the group's lack of scale in the sector. Fitch benchmarks KAEFER against E&C peers, including Webuild S.p.A. (BB/Positive), Skanska AB, Ferrovial SE (BBB/Stable), and Enter Engineering PTE. Ltd., while acknowledging differences in the risk profiles between KAEFER and its E&C peers. Many of them are considerably larger with a varied profitability profile. KAEFER's EBITDA margin at 7% is broadly similar to Webuild's 7.5%-8.0% but stronger than Ferrovial's 2%-4%. This takes into account the group's overall lower contract risk profile than a typical E&C company's, a lower risk of working capital unwinding, a high share of recurring revenue and a more diversified contract portfolio, which has historically led to more resilient profitability. Lower-rated Webuild has a weaker leverage profile than KAEFER with Fitch EBITDA gross leverage of 3.4x in 2023 and is forecast to fall to 2.2x by 2026, compared with KAEFER's 1.4x (declining to 1.1x by 2026). Key Assumptions - Revenue to grow by mid-to-high single digits annually in 2024-2027 - EBITDA margin of 7.2% in 2024, gradually increasing to 8.0% in 2027 - Capex at 3.2% of revenue in 2024 and 2.5% annually in 2025-2027 - Net working-capital requirement at 0.6% of revenue in 2024-2025 and 1.2% in 2026-2027 - Dividend policy to remain stable - About EUR15 million new net M&A spend annually in 2025-2027 RATING SENSITIVITIES Not applicable due to the rating being withdrawn Liquidity and Debt Structure Sufficient Liquidity: At end-2023, KAEFER had about EUR114 million of unrestricted cash (after restricting EUR30 million of cash deemed by Fitch as not readily available for debt service) and access to EUR145 million under a EUR150 million revolving credit facility due in March 2026 with two one-year extension options. Fitch expects broadly neutral FCF after net acquisitions in 2024, and positive in 2025. Debt Structure: The refinancing of KAEFER's EUR250 million bonds in 2022 with a EUR150 million term loan extended its debt maturity by three years to March 2026, with two one-year extension options. Fitch views refinancing risk as low, given KAEFER's high financial flexibility, a stronger capital structure after the equity injection and its conservative financial policy. Issuer Profile KAEFER is a leading service provider of insulation, access solutions, surface protection and passive fire protection as well as aftersales services. KAEFER's operations span western Europe, central and eastern Europe, APAC, Middle East and Latin America and South Africa. ESG Considerations The highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3', unless otherwise disclosed in this section. A score of '3' means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores are not inputs in the rating process; they are an observation on the relevance and materiality of ESG factors in the rating decision. Entity/Debt Rating Prior ----------- ------ ----- KAEFER SE & Co. KG LT IDR BB+ Affirmed BB+ LT IDR WD Withdrawn BB+ PBD GERMANY: Fitch Hikes Rating on Class F Notes to 'BB+sf' ----------------------------------------------------------- Fitch Ratings has upgraded PBD Germany Auto Lease Master S.A., Compartment 2021-1 class C to F notes, and affirmed the rest. The ratings are on Stable Outlook. Entity/Debt Rating Prior ----------- ------ ----- PBD Germany Auto Lease Master S.A., Compartment 2021-1 A XS2399669006 LT AAAsf Affirmed AAAsf B XS2399669931 LT AA+sf Affirmed AA+sf C XS2399672216 LT AA+sf Upgrade A+sf D XS2399683098 LT A+sf Upgrade BBB+sf E XS2399684658 LT BBB-sf Upgrade BB+sf F XS2399684815 LT BB+sf Upgrade BBsf Transaction Summary PBD Germany Auto Lease Master S.A., Compartment 2021-1 is a securitisation of auto lease receivables granted to German private and commercial customers. The leases are originated and serviced by Stellantis Bank S.A., German Branch to finance cars of Stellantis. The transaction finances leases for Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars. The securitised leases include the residual value (RV) component, for which either the lessee bears the risk, or the car can be sold to the dealer for the contractual RV via a put option. The transaction ended its one-year revolving period in November 2022 and has amortised pro-rata since then. The interest-rate mismatch between assets and liabilities is addressed by an interest-rate cap with a strike rate of one-month Euribor at 0%. KEY RATING DRIVERS Strong Performance: During the revolving period and since it ended, the transaction's defaults and recoveries have been better than its expectation. Fitch expects the transaction to continue performing well in a recovering economic environment with tamed inflation. Revised Asset Assumptions: Fitch has lowered the remaining life default rate base case for all clients to 1.25% from 1.75%, the latter of which was based on separate assumptions for private and commercial clients. Fitch has also increased the recovery base for all clients to 75% from 65%, previously also based on separate assumptions for private and commercial clients. The increase follows high observed recoveries over the last three years. As leases in the portfolio were made ahead of the peak of used car prices the risk of price corrections from the currently subdued used car market in Germany and thus significantly lower recoveries is reduced. RV Drives Risk: Under Stellantis Bank SA, German Branch's closed-end RV contracts (29% of the current portfolio), car dealers have to pay the contractual RV. However, dealer defaults will expose the issuer to the risk of RV losses from declining used car prices when vehicles are sold at market prices. The current RV portion coming solely from closed-end RV contracts is 26% of the overall pool. Fitch assumes total portfolio RV losses of 10.8% (based on the total portfolio) at 'AAAsf'. The remaining 71% of the portfolio are open-end RV contracts where the lessee carries the market value risk of the cars. Here, the risk profile is comparable to balloon loans. Fitch assumes 2.6% losses from the instalment portions (based on the total portfolio) in both closed- and open-end RV contracts at 'AAAsf'. Credit Enhancement Increase Despite Pro-rata: The class A to F notes currently pay down pro-rata since no sequential payment triggers are breached. The collateralised class G notes were repaid in full by excess spread in April 2024. Therefore, the collateral balance is higher than the balance of the class A-F notes combined. The resulting over-collateralisation has increased credit enhancement to by 3.4pp the for class A notes and 4.1pp for the class F notes since closing in November 2021. This, together with small loss expectations, led to the upgrades of mezzanine and junior notes. Effective Pro-Rata Triggers: Performance triggers for sequential amortisation consider defaults and RV losses. In Fitch's view, the design of the triggers as well as their levels are adequate to avoid excessive pro-rata allocations in an environment of adverse asset performance. Fitch expects the amortisation to permanently switch to sequential within the next 12 months once the pool balance reaches 10% of the initial balance. Consideration of Put Option: For closed-end RV contracts, Stellantis Bank SA, German Branch can exercise a put option at lease maturity to sell cars to the dealers for the contractual RV. This has the effect of shrinking losses, which Fitch has considered in the 'Bsf' and 'BBsf' rating categories by applying small RV haircuts and reducing selling costs. This constitutes a variation to its Consumer ABS Rating Criteria (see Criteria Variation below). Servicing Continuity Risk Reduced: Stellantis Bank SA, German Branch services the portfolio. A servicing facilitator is appointed to find a replacement servicer should Stellantis Bank SA, German Branch fail to perform its duties or become insolvent. In addition, an amortising liquidity reserve provides adequate protection against payment interruption risk. Fitch deems commingling risk immaterial in the transaction, due to collections being transferred to the issuer within two days. RATING SENSITIVITIES Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Negative Rating Action/Downgrade - Unanticipated increases in the frequency of defaults, widening RV losses or decreases in recovery rates could produce larger losses than the base case and could result in negative rating action on the notes. - Different timing of defaults or RV losses leading to a longer period of pro-rata amortisation and longer time to RV sale could lead to negative rating action on the senior notes. Fitch conducted a sensitivity analysis by stressing the transaction's base-case default rate and recovery rate assumptions, with the results as below for the class A/B/C/D/E/F notes: Default rates up 10%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AA+sf'; 'A+sf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' Default rates up 25%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AA+sf'; 'A+sf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' Default rates up 50%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AAsf'; 'A+sf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' Recovery rates down 10%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AA+sf'; 'A+sf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' Recovery rates down 25%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AAsf'; ' A+sf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' Recovery rates down 50%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AAsf'; ' Asf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' RV proceeds down 10%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'AAsf'; 'Asf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB+sf' RV proceeds down 25%: 'AAAsf'; 'AA+sf'; 'Asf'; 'BB+sf'; 'BB-sf'; 'Bsf' RV proceeds down 50%: 'AAAsf'; 'A+sf'; 'BBB-sf'; 'BBsf'; 'NRsf'; 'NRsf' Factors that Could, Individually or Collectively, Lead to Positive Rating Action/Upgrade - Lower-than-expected defaults and/or more robust recoveries leading to smaller losses - The contracts with RV exposure maturing without or, with smaller-than-expected, associated RV losses CRITERIA VARIATION The issuer benefits from a dealer put option via a contractual agreement it entered into with Stellantis Bank S.A., German Branch, under which it can demand payment of the contractual RV from dealers through Stellantis Bank S.A., German Branch. The available mechanisms and incentives for the insolvency administrator suggest that the put option exercise will also be effective after an insolvency of Stellantis Bank S.A., German Branch. Fitch believes the dealer put option will be exercised during the transaction's life. Therefore, it is justified to incorporate the beneficial effect of successfully exercised dealer put options into scenarios close to its baseline. This benefit gradually decreases with every rating notch up to 'BB+sf'. No benefit is assumed in investment-grade scenarios. The criteria variation comprises reducing the market-value haircuts to below the low end of the criteria range and assuming no selling costs for the calculation of RV loss in non-investment-grade scenarios. The criteria variation has resulted in a single-notch uplift to the class F notes. USE OF THIRD PARTY DUE DILIGENCE PURSUANT TO SEC RULE 17G -10 Form ABS Due Diligence-15E was not provided to, or reviewed by, Fitch in relation to this rating action. DATA ADEQUACY Fitch has checked the consistency and plausibility of the information it has received about the performance of the asset pool and the transaction. Fitch has not reviewed the results of any third-party assessment of the asset portfolio information or conducted a review of origination files as part of its ongoing monitoring. Prior to the transaction closing, Fitch reviewed the results of a third-party assessment conducted on the asset portfolio information and concluded that there were no findings that affected the rating analysis. Prior to the transaction closing, Fitch conducted a review of a small targeted sample of the originator's origination files and found the information contained in the reviewed files to be adequately consistent with the originator's policies and practices and the other information provided to the agency about the asset portfolio. Overall, and together with any assumptions referred to above, Fitch's assessment of the information relied upon for the agency's rating analysis according to its applicable rating methodologies indicates that it is adequately reliable. ESG Considerations The highest level of ESG credit relevance is a score of '3', unless otherwise disclosed in this section. A score of '3' means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity, either due to their nature or the way in which they are being managed by the entity. Fitch's ESG Relevance Scores are not inputs in the rating process; they are an observation on the relevance and materiality of ESG factors in the rating decision. ============= I R E L A N D ============= TRINITAS EURO II: S&P Assigns Prelim B- (sf) Rating to F-R-R Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------ S&P Global Ratings assigned preliminary ratings to Trinitas Euro CLO II DAC's class X-R-R to F-R-R European cash flow CLO notes. At closing, the issuer will have unrated subordinated notes outstanding from the existing transaction and will not issue additional subordinated notes. The transaction is a reset of the already existing transaction which closed in April 2022. The issuance proceeds of the refinancing debt will be used to redeem the refinanced debt (the original transaction's class X-R, A-R, B-R, C-R, D-R, E-R, and F-R notes). Under the transaction documents, the rated notes pay quarterly interest unless a frequency switch event occurs. Following this, the notes will switch to semiannual payments. The transaction has a two-year non-call period and the portfolio's reinvestment period will end approximately 5.18 years after closing. The ratings reflect S&P's assessment of: -- The diversified collateral pool, which primarily comprises broadly syndicated speculative-grade senior-secured term loans and bonds that are governed by collateral quality tests. -- The credit enhancement provided through the subordination of cash flows, excess spread, and overcollateralization. -- The collateral manager's experienced team, which can affect the performance of the rated notes through collateral selection, ongoing portfolio management, and trading. -- The transaction's legal structure, which S&P expects to be bankruptcy remote. -- The transaction's counterparty risks, which S&P expects to be in line with its counterparty rating framework. Portfolio benchmarks CURRENT S&P weighted-average rating factor 2,661.25 Default rate dispersion 625.58 Weighted-average life (years) 4.29 Weighted-average life (years) extended to cover the length of the reinvestment period 5.18 Obligor diversity measure 148.12 Industry diversity measure 23.33 Regional diversity measure 1.30 Transaction key metrics CURRENT Portfolio weighted-average rating derived from S&P's CDO evaluator B 'CCC' category rated assets (%) 0.35 Actual target 'AAA' weighted-average recovery (%) 36.95 Actual target weighted-average spread (net of floors; %) 3.88 Actual target weighted-average coupon (%) 4.89 S&P said, "At closing, the portfolio will be well-diversified, primarily comprising broadly syndicated speculative-grade senior-secured term loans and senior-secured bonds. Therefore, we have conducted our credit and cash flow analysis by applying our criteria for corporate cash flow CDOs. "In our cash flow analysis, we used the EUR400 million target par amount, the covenanted weighted-average spread (3.88%), the covenanted weighted-average coupon (4.89%), and the covenanted weighted-average recovery rates at all rating levels. We applied various cash flow stress scenarios, using four different default patterns, in conjunction with different interest rate stress scenarios for each liability rating category. "Until the end of the reinvestment period on Oct. 20, 2029, the collateral manager may substitute assets in the portfolio for so long as our CDO Monitor test is maintained or improved in relation to the initial ratings on the notes. This test looks at the total amount of losses that the transaction can sustain as established by the initial cash flows for each rating, and it compares that with the current portfolio's default potential plus par losses to date. As a result, until the end of the reinvestment period, the collateral manager may through trading deteriorate the transaction's current risk profile, as long as the initial ratings are maintained. "Under our structured finance sovereign risk criteria, we consider that the transaction's exposure to country risk is sufficiently mitigated at the assigned preliminary ratings. "We expect the transaction's documented counterparty replacement and remedy mechanisms to adequately mitigate its exposure to counterparty risk under our current counterparty criteria. "We expect the transaction's legal structure and framework to be bankruptcy remote, in line with our legal criteria. "Following our analysis of the credit, cash flow, counterparty, operational, and legal risks, we believe the assigned preliminary ratings are commensurate with the available credit enhancement for the class X-R-R, A-R-R, B-R-R, C-R-R, D-R-R, E-R-R, and F-R-R notes. "Our credit and cash flow analysis indicates that the available credit enhancement for the class B-R-R to F-R-R notes could withstand stresses commensurate with higher ratings than those we have assigned. However, as the CLO will be in its reinvestment phase starting from closing, during which the transaction's credit risk profile could deteriorate, we have capped our preliminary ratings assigned to the notes. "In addition to our standard analysis, we have also included the sensitivity of the ratings on the class X-R-R to E-R-R notes based on four hypothetical scenarios. "As our ratings analysis makes additional considerations before assigning ratings in the 'CCC' category, and we would assign a 'B-' rating if the criteria for assigning a 'CCC' category rating are not met, we have not included the above scenario analysis results for the class F-R-R notes." The transaction securitizes a portfolio of primarily senior-secured leveraged loans and bonds and will be managed by Trinitas Capital Management LLC. Environmental, social, and governance S&P said, "We regard the exposure to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credit factors in the transaction as being broadly in line with our benchmark for the sector. Primarily due to the diversity of the assets within CLOs, the exposure to environmental credit factors is viewed as below average, social credit factors are below average, and governance credit factors are average. For this transaction, the documents prohibit assets from being related to certain activities, including but not limited to, the following: weapons of mass destruction, illegal drugs or narcotics, opioids, pornographic or prostitution, child or forced labor, payday lending, electrical utility limitations, oil and gas, tobacco, civilian firearms, hazardous chemicals, private prisons, soft commodities limitations, and trading coal limitations. Accordingly, since the exclusion of assets from these industries does not result in material differences between the transaction and our ESG benchmark for the sector, no specific adjustments have been made in our rating analysis to account for any ESG-related risks or opportunities." Ratings PRELIM. PRELIM. AMOUNT CREDIT CLASS RATING* (MIL. EUR) INTEREST RATE§ ENHANCEMENT (%) X-R-R AAA (sf) 0.60 3mE +0.45% N/A A-R-R AAA (sf) 248.00 3mE +1.29% 38.00 B-R-R AA (sf) 45.00 3mE +1.86% 26.75 C-R-R A (sf) 25.00 3mE +2.33% 20.50 D-R-R BBB- (sf) 26.00 3mE +3.25% 14.00 E-R-R BB- (sf) 16.80 3mE +5.96% 9.80 F-R-R B- (sf) 13.20 3mE +8.20% 6.50 Sub NR 28.85 N/A N/A *The preliminary ratings assigned to the class X-R-R, A-R-R, and B-R-R notes address timely interest and ultimate principal payments. The ratings assigned to the class C-R-R, D-R-R, E-R-R, and F-R-R notes address ultimate interest and principal payments. §The payment frequency switches to semiannual and the index switches to six-month Euro Interbank Offered Rate when a frequency switch event occurs. NR--Not rated. N/A--Not applicable. 3mE--Three-month Euro Interbank Offered Rate. ===================== N E T H E R L A N D S ===================== VEON LTD: S&P Assigns 'BB-' Rating to New Senior Unsecured Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------- S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'BB-' issue rating to the US$471 million senior unsecured notes due in April 2025, Russian ruble (RUB) 7.765 billion senior unsecured notes due in June 2025, and US$1,004 million senior unsecured notes due in November 2027 issued by Veon Holdings B.V., a financing subsidiary of Netherlands-based mobile operator Veon Ltd. Veon Holdings B.V. issued these notes on identical terms to the existing notes and used the proceeds to cancel an equivalent amount of existing notes. The issuance has a neutral effect on Veon Ltd.'s S&P Global Ratings-adjusted debt to EBITDA and cash flows. S&P said, "Despite Veon Ltd.'s sizable debt maturity in the first half of 2025, we consider that the company has adequate liquidity in cash on balance sheet and cash funds from operations to service its debt maturities over the next 12 months. That said, we understand that the company plans to go to capital markets by year-end 2024 or early next year." Issue Ratings--Subordination Risk Analysis Capital structure As of March 31, 2024, Veon Holdings B.V. issued most of Veon Ltd.'s debt. S&P calculates a priority debt ratio of below 30%. Analytical conclusions S&P assesses the subordination risk for group-level creditors as limited and rate the senior unsecured debt at 'BB-', in line with its issuer credit rating on Veon Ltd. =========================== U N I T E D K I N G D O M =========================== ANARCHY BREW: FRP to Lead Administration Proceedings ---------------------------------------------------- Anarchy Brew Co. Limited went into administration before the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Court Number: CR-2024-NCL-000129, and FRP Advisory Trading Limited was appointed as administrators on Aug. 1, 2024. Anarchy Brew Co. operates brewery and tap rooms. Its registered office and principal trading address is at Unit A1, Benfield Business Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 4NQ. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Steven Philip Ross Allan Kelly FRP Advisory Trading Limited Suite 5, 2nd Floor, Bulman House Regent Centre Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE3 3LS Tel: 0191 605 3737 Alternative contact: Georgia Foster E-mail: cp.newcastle@frpadvisory.com BLETCHLEY PARK 2024-1: S&P Assigns B-(sf) Rating to Class X2 Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------ S&P Global Ratings assigned its credit ratings to Bletchley Park Funding 2024-1 PLC's class A, B-Dfrd, C-Dfrd, D-Dfrd, E-Dfrd, X1-Dfrd, and X2-Dfrd notes. At closing, the issuer also issued unrated J-VFN notes and residual certificates. This is an RMBS transaction that securitizes a portfolio of mortgage loans secured on properties in the U.K. The mortgage portfolio is approximately GBP234 million as of May 31, 2024. The transaction is composed of buy-to-let mortgages originated by Quantum Mortgages Ltd. (93.7%; the "Carbon" portfolio) and owner-occupied mortgages originated by Hey Habito Ltd. (6.3%; the "Chronos" portfolio). The issuer used the issuance proceeds to purchase the full beneficial interest in the mortgage loans from the seller at closing. The issuer granted security over all of its assets in the security trustee's favor. S&P considers the originators' lending criteria to be conservative, given that a very small number of the loans are in arrears or none are related to borrowers currently under a bankruptcy proceeding. Credit enhancement for the rated notes consists of subordination and excess spread. A liquidity reserve provides liquidity support to cover senior fees, swap payments, and cure interest shortfalls on the class A and B-Dfrd notes. Principal can be used to pay interest on the class A and B-Dfrd through E-Dfrd notes, provided that, in the case of the class B-Dfrd to E-Dfrd notes, they are the most senior class outstanding or the outstanding principal deficiency ledger is less than 10%. There are no rating constraints in the transaction under S&P's counterparty, operational risk, or structured finance sovereign risk criteria. S&P considers the issuer to be bankruptcy remote. Ratings CLASS RATING* AMOUNT (MIL.GBP) A AAA (sf) 207.15 B-Dfrd AA (sf) 13.06 C-Dfrd A (sf) 8.90 D-Dfrd BBB+ (sf) 4.75 E-Dfrd BB+ (sf) 3.56 X1-Dfrd BB+ (sf) 4.15 X2-Dfrd B- (sf) 2.97 J-VFN NR 0 Residual certs NR N/A NR--Not rated. N/A--Not applicable. DYMAG GROUP: FRP Named as Administrator for Wheel Manufacturer -------------------------------------------------------------- Dymag Group Limited was placed in administration proceedings in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts in Birmingham, Court Number: CR-2024-000439, and FRP Advisory Trading Limited was appointed as administrators on July 31, 2024. Dymag Group supplies supply carbon fibre, aluminium and magnesium wheels around the world. Its registered office is at 2nd Floor, 120 Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 3BD. Its principal trading address is at Units A/B Brunel Park Vincients Road, Bumpers Farm, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6NQ. In a LinkedIn post five months ago, Dymag announced its CEO Tom de Lange was stepping down to "pursue new career opportunities." "Tom will remain with the company in the short term to help oversee a smooth transition to our senior leadership structure. Martyn Bond, our Finance Director, is appointed interim Managing Director with immediate effect, who will harness the momentum of the last three years to take the company to even greater success in the global market," the Company said. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Rajnesh Mittal Benjamin Neil Jones FRP Advisory Trading Limited 2nd Floor, 120 Colmore Row Birmingham, B3 3BD Tel: 0121 710 1680 Alternative contact: Abbie Lenihan E-mail: cp.birmingham@frpadvisory.com FUEL PROPERTIES: Begbies Named as Administrators ------------------------------------------------ Fuel Properties (Norwich) Limited was placed in administration proceedings in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Insolvency and Companies List (ChD), Court Number: CR-2024-BHM-000465, and Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP was appointed as administrators on July 29, 2024. Fuel Properties (Norwich) Limited has its registered office at No 9 South Molton Street, London, W1K 5QH. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Craig Povey Gareth Prince Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP 11th Floor, One Temple Row Birmingham, B2 5LG Any person who requires further information may contact: Lucy Corbett Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP E-mail: Birmingham@btguk.com Tel: on 0121 200 8150. LONDON WALL 2024-01: S&P Assigns Prelim 'B' Rating to Cl. X Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------- S&P Global Ratings assigned credit ratings to London Wall Mortgage Capital PLC's series 2024-01 (London Wall 2024-1) notes. London Wall 2024-01 is an RMBS transaction that securitizes a portfolio of buy-to-let (BTL) and owner-occupied mortgage loans secured on properties in the U.K. This transaction is the sixth securitization under the London Wall Mortgage Capital PLC program. The loans in the pool were originated between 2014 and 2022 by Fleet Mortgages Ltd. (27%), Charter Court Financial Services Ltd. (CCFS) (29%), and The Mortgage Lender Ltd. (TML) (44%). S&P said, "We have previously analyzed assets in this pool under the Charter Mortgage Funding 2017-1 PLC and Lanebrook Mortgage Transaction 2020-1 PLC (Lanebrook 2020-1) transactions. The remaining assets were securitized under the following transactions that we did not rate: London Wall Mortgage Capital PLC's series Fleet 2017 01, London Wall Mortgage Capital PLC's series Fleet 2018-01, Charter Mortgage Funding 2018-1 PLC, Precise Mortgage Funding 2018-1B PLC, and Precise Mortgage Funding 2018-2B PLC. Some of the assets originated by Fleet Mortgages have not been previously securitized." The transaction has a prefunding feature The issuer intends to use the prefunding process to purchase the full beneficial interest in the mortgage loans currently securitized under Lanebrook 2020-1 on the call date of Sept. 12, 2024. A liquidity reserve fund as well as principal proceeds can be used to pay shortfalls in senior fees and expenses, interest on the class A notes, and interest on the classes B-Dfrd to E-Dfrd notes subject to being the most senior class outstanding. The transaction incorporates an interest rate cap to hedge exposure to liquidity risks in a rising interest rate scenario. The transaction allows for pro rata amortization. S&P has considered this in its analysis by stressing delayed defaults. At closing, the issuer will use the issuance proceeds to purchase the full beneficial interest in the mortgage loans from the seller. The issuer entered into a security deed with the security trustee at the time of program establishment and granted security over all of its assets in favor of the security trustee. Product switches are permitted under the transaction documentation until the step-up date, subject to certain conditions. Product switches are permitted up to a limit of 5.0% of the aggregate amount of the current balance of the portfolio as of the closing date. Product switches are only permitted subject to compliance with the respective eligibility criteria. S&P considered this in its cash flow analysis. There are no rating constraints in the transaction under S&P's counterparty, operational risk, or structured finance sovereign risk criteria. S&P considers the issuer to be bankruptcy remote. S&P's also consider each series within the program to be segregated. Fleet Mortgages, CCFS, and TML are the servicers for their respective deals in this transaction. Preliminary ratings CLASS PRELIMINARY RATING* CLASS SIZE (%) A AAA (sf) 86.00 B-Dfrd AA (sf) 6.50 C-Dfrd A+ (sf) 4.00 D-Dfrd BBB (sf) 3.00 E-Dfrd BB+ (sf) 0.50 X-Dfrd B 4.00 S NR 0.00 *S&P said, "Our preliminary ratings address timely receipt of interest and ultimate repayment of principal on the class A notes, and the ultimate payment of interest and principal on the other rated notes. Our preliminary ratings also address the timely receipt of interest on the class B–Dfrd to X-Dfrd notes when they become the most senior outstanding." NR--Not rated NEW ENGINEERING: Alvarez & Marsal Named as Administrators --------------------------------------------------------- New Engineering Limited was placed in administration proceedings in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts, Company & Insolvency List (ChD), No CR-2024-004610 of 2024, and Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP was appointed as administrators on Aug. 1, 2024. New Engineering Limited is a manufacturer of fabricated metal products. Its registered office is at Cosgrove Close, Worcester, WR3 8UA. Its principal trading addresses are at: Cosgrove Close, Worcester, WR3 8RU; Westside Park, Belmore Way, Alvaston, Derby. DE21 7AZ; and 2 Worcester Road, Kidderminster, WR3 8AU. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Michael Denny Mark Firmin Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP Suite 3 Regency House 91 Western Road Brighton, BN1 2NW Tel: +44 (0) 20 7715 5200 For further information, contact: Nyran Campbell Alvarez & Marsal Europe LLP Tel: +44 (0) 121 281 7720 E-mail: INS_NEWENL@alvarezandmarsal.com NOTTINGHAM BREAKDOWN: PKF Smith Cooper Named as Administrators -------------------------------------------------------------- Nottingham Breakdown Service Ltd was placed in administration proceedings in the Business and Properties Court Birmingham, No 440 of 2024, and PKF Smith Cooper was appointed as administrators on Aug. 1, 2024. Nottingham Breakdown Service Ltd provides vehicle recovery and repair service. Its registered office is at 42 Greenwood Crescent Boughton, Nottingham, NG22 9HX. Its principal trading address is at 11 Great Northern Way, Netherfield, Nottingham, NG4 2HD. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Dean Anthony Nelson Nicholas Charles Osborn Lee PKF Smith Cooper Prospect House 1 Prospect Place, Derby Derbyshire, DE24 8HG Tel: 01332 332021 For further information, contact: Stanley Bottrill PKF Smith Cooper Tel: 01332 332021 E-mail: stanley.bottrill@pkfsmithcooper.com UNITED INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTORS: Placed in Administration --------------------------------------------------------- The U.K. distributor United Independent Distributors Ltd and its subsidiary companies Orca Book Services Limited, Marston Book Services Limited and Eurospan Limited were placed in administration proceedings and Leonard Curtis appointed as administrators on July 24, 2024. The cases are before the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Insolvency & Companies List (ChD): -- Orca, Court Number: CR-2024-004427 -- Marston, Court Number: CR-2024-004426 -- United Independent Distributors, Court Number: CR-2024-004422 -- Eurospan, Court Number: CR-2024-004424 The Companies' registered office is at 4 Coleman Street, 6th Floor, London, EC2R 5AR. Marston's principal trading address is at 160 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Oxfordshire OX14 4SB United Independent Distributors' principal trading address is at Unit 2 Lancaster Way, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG18 8YL. Nicholas Clee, writing for Publishers Weekly, reports that Joe Matthews, CEO of Marston's U.S. owner Independent Publishers Group, has earlier advised the distributor's clients that the company had made "the difficult decision to file a notice of intent to appoint an administrator for Marston Book Services and its parent company United Independent Distributors." According to Publishers Weekly, there had been reports of late payments and other problems at Marston for some time and that some publishers left the distributor, while others remained, with their stock still at the warehouse and payments outstanding. Publishers Weekly recounts Matthews bought UID in October 2021 in an attempt to significantly expand IPG's distribution business by becoming a major player in the U.K. market. At the time of the acquisition, UID was the U.K.'s second largest book distributor, but faced financial and operational challenges. In February 2024, Matthews told Publishers Weekly in an interview that turning around the company was taking longer than he had expected. "Matthews had hoped that a new plan, in which U.S. publishers would use UID as a way to meet Amazon's requirement to source books closer to European points of sale, would help to revive the company. But while there were some encouraging signs, it wasn't enough to stop the slide," the report continues. Publishers Weekly adds David Taylor, senior VP of Ingram Content Group UK, which is the U.K.'s largest distributor, said that the company is ready to assist publishers where it can. The Joint Administrators may be reached at: Alex Cadwallader Dane O'Hara Leonard Curtis 5th Floor, Grove House 248a Marylebone Road London, NW1 6BB Tel: 020 7535 7000 E-mail: recovery@leonardcurtis.co.uk Alternative contact: Amber Walker ********* S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N Troubled Company Reporter-Europe is a daily newsletter co- published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C., USA. Marites O. Claro, Rousel Elaine T. Fernandez, Joy A. Agravante, Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A. Chapman, Editors. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. ISSN 1529-2754. This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the publishers. Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed. The TCR Europe subscription rate is US$775 per half-year, delivered via e-mail. Additional e-mail subscriptions for members of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or balance thereof are US$25 each. For subscription information, contact Peter Chapman at 215-945-7000. * * * End of Transmission * * *