DBRS Morningstar Confirms Ratings on Certain Notes and Tranche Amounts of Manitoulin USD Ltd., Algonquin 2022-1

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the following ratings on the Algonquin Series 2022-1 Class B Guarantee Linked Notes (the Class B Notes), the Algonquin Series 2022-1 Class C Guarantee Linked Notes (the Class C Notes), and the Algonquin Series 2022-1 Class D Guarantee Linked Notes (the Class D Notes; together, with the Class B Notes and the Class C Notes, the Notes). The Notes were issued by Manitoulin USD Ltd. (the Issuer) referencing the executed Junior Loan Portfolio Financial Guarantees (the Financial Guarantee), dated as of April 13, 2022, between the Issuer as Guarantor and the Bank of Montreal (BMO; rated AA with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar) as Beneficiary with respect to a portfolio of primarily U.S. and Canadian senior secured and senior unsecured loans originated or managed by BMO.

-- Class B Notes at AA (sf)
-- Class C Notes at A (sf)
-- Class D Notes at BBB (low) (sf)

The rating confirmations on the Notes address the timely payment of interest and ultimate payment of principal on or before the Scheduled Termination Date (as defined in the Financial Guarantee referenced above). The payment of the interest due on the Notes is subject to the Beneficiary’s ability to pay the Guarantee Fee Amount (as defined in the Financial Guarantee referenced above).

DBRS Morningstar also confirmed the following provisional ratings to the Tranche A Amount, Tranche B Amount, Tranche C Amount, and Tranche D Amount (collectively, the Tranche Amounts) of two unexecuted, unfunded financial guarantees (the Unfunded Financial Guarantees) of Manitoulin USD Ltd., Algonquin 2022-1 with respect to a portfolio of primarily U.S. and Canadian senior secured and senior unsecured loans originated or managed by BMO:

-- Tranche A Amount at AAA (sf)
-- Tranche B Amount at AA (sf)
-- Tranche C Amount at A (sf)
-- Tranche D Amount at BBB (low) (sf)

The provisional rating confirmations on the Tranche Amounts address the likelihood of a reduction to the respective tranche notional amounts resulting from obligor defaults within the guaranteed portfolio during the period from the Effective Date until the Scheduled Termination Date. For obligors within the guaranteed portfolio, default events are limited to payment default, insolvency, and restructuring events.

DBRS Morningstar expects the ratings to remain provisional until the underlying agreements are executed. BMO may have no intention of executing the Unfunded Financial Guarantees. DBRS Morningstar will maintain and monitor the provisional ratings throughout the life of the transaction or while it continues to receive performance information.

RATING RATIONALE
The rating actions are a result of the annual surveillance review of the transaction. DBRS Morningstar confirmed the ratings on the Notes and the Tranche Amounts as the current transaction performance is within DBRS Morningstar’s expectations. The Scheduled Termination Date is May 1, 2027. The Replenishment Cut-Off Date is November 20, 2024.

In its analysis, DBRS Morningstar considered the following aspects of the transaction:

(1) The transaction’s capital structure and the form and sufficiency of available credit enhancement.
(2) Relevant credit enhancement in the form of subordination.
(3) The ability of the Tranche Amounts and the Notes to withstand projected collateral loss rates under various cash flow stress scenarios.
(4) The credit quality of the underlying collateral, subject to the Replenishment Criteria.
(5) DBRS Morningstar’s assessment of the origination, servicing, and management capabilities of BMO.
(6) The legal structure as well as legal opinions addressing certain matters of the Borrower and the consistency with the DBRS Morningstar “Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance” methodology (the Legal Criteria).

The transaction is performing according to the parameters set in the Unfunded Financial Guarantees. As of March 21, 2023, the Issuer is in compliance with all Replenishment Criteria.

DBRS Morningstar modeled the transaction using the DBRS CLO Asset model, which incorporated the current portfolio of the transaction and tranche-specific recovery rates, among other credit considerations referenced in the DBRS Morningstar rating methodology “Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit.”

On the Effective Date (as defined in the Financial Guarantees referenced above), the Issuer will use the proceeds from the issuance of the Notes to make a deposit into the Cash Deposit Accounts with the Cash Deposit Bank. DBRS Morningstar may review the ratings on the Notes in the event of a downgrade of the Cash Deposit Bank below certain thresholds, as defined in the transaction documents.

The transaction assumptions consider DBRS Morningstar’s baseline macroeconomic scenarios for rated sovereign economies, available in its commentary “Baseline Macroeconomic Scenarios for Rated Sovereigns: December 2022 Update,” published on December 21, 2022 (https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/407678). These baseline macroeconomic scenarios replace DBRS Morningstar’s moderate and adverse Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic scenarios, which were first published in April 2020.

For more information regarding DBRS Morningstar’s additional adjustment for select industries related to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see its May 18, 2020, commentary, “CLO Risk Exposure to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/361112.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/396929/dbrs-morningstar-criteria-approach-to-environmental-social-and-governance-risk-factors-in-credit-ratings (May 17, 2022).

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal methodologies applicable to the ratings are Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit (February 7, 2023; https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/409498) and Mapping Financial Institution Internal Ratings to DBRS Morningstar Ratings for Global Structured Credit Transactions (February 17, 2023; https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/410076).

Other methodologies referenced in this transaction are listed at the end of this press release.

The rating was initiated at the request of the rated entity. The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process for this rating action. DBRS Morningstar had access to the accounts, management, and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this rating action. This is a solicited credit rating.

Please, see the related appendix for additional information regarding the sensitivity of assumptions used in the rating process.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the United Kingdom, and by DBRS Ratings GmbH for use in the European Union, respectively. The following additional regulatory disclosures apply to endorsed ratings:

Each of the principal asset class methodologies employed in the analysis addressed one or more particular risks or aspects of the rating and were factored into the rating decision. Specifically, for the recovery rate, DBRS Morningstar applied the senior secured and senior unsecured recovery rates defined in its “Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit” methodology (February 7, 2023). DBRS Morningstar applies different recovery rates depending on the recovery tier and seniority.

DBRS Morningstar used its CLO Asset Model to determine expected default rates for the portfolio at each rating level. To determine the credit risk of each underlying reference obligation, DBRS Morningstar relied on either public ratings or a ratings mapping to DBRS Morningstar ratings of BMO’s internal ratings models. The mapping was completed in accordance with DBRS Morningstar’s “Mapping Financial Institution Internal Ratings to DBRS Morningstar Ratings for Global Structured Credit Transactions” methodology (February 17, 2023).

The last rating actions on this transaction took place on April 12, 2022 and April 13, 2022.

For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see: https://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.
For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a central repository, see https://data.fca.org.uk/#/ceres/craStats.

Lead Analyst: Oxana Rhybak, Vice President, U.S. Structured Credit
Rating Committee Chair: Jerry van Koolbergen, Managing Director, U.S. Structured Credit
Initial Rating Date: April 8, 2022

DBRS, Inc.
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New York, NY 10005 USA
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The rating methodologies used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/about/methodologies.

-- Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit and CLO Asset Model Version 2.2.3.1 (February 7, 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/409498

-- Cash Flow Assumptions for Corporate Credit Securitizations (February 7, 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/409499

-- Operational Risk Assessment for Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) and Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) Managers of Large Corporate Credits (September 23, 2022), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/403042

-- Interest Rate Stresses for U.S. Structured Finance Transactions (August 30, 2022), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/402153

-- Legal Criteria for U.S. Structured Finance (December 7, 2022), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/407008

-- Mapping Financial Institution Internal Ratings to DBRS Morningstar Ratings for Global Structured Credit Transactions (February 27, 2023), https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/410076

A description of how DBRS Morningstar analyses structured finance transactions and how the methodologies are collectively applied can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/278375.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at info@dbrsmorningstar.com.