National Commercial Bank of Jamaica Ltd. (NCB) – $125 million Funding Line

NCB (Ja.) has announced that it has originated a US$125,000,000 five year funding line. The funding is sourced via NCB selling, without recourse, future cash flows arising from NCB’s acquisition of MasterCard and Visa card vouchers which are generated from purchases on US$ denominated credit cards. The transaction was arranged by Citicorp Securities and the internationally accredited rating agencies, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s assigned Baa3 and “BBB” ratings respectively to the transaction. These ratings exceed those currently assigned to the Government of Jamaica. The transaction has also been credit enhanced by XL Capital Assurance Inc.’s guarantee which has improved the ultimate quality of the transaction to the highest quality, i.e. “AAA”, rated. Both Moody’s Investors service and Standard & Poor’s will issue a press release shortly.