S&P Affirms Santista Export Notes; Off Watch Dev Structured Finance

Business Wire, Nov 30, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 1999--

(Standard & Poor's CreditWire)--Standard & Poor's today removed its triple-'B'-minus rating on Santista Export Securitization I Ltd.'s US$150 million 8.09% securitized export notes from CreditWatch with developing implications, where it was placed on May 28, 1998, following changes stemming from Santista Alimentos S.A.'s (Santista) sale of its soybean processing capacity to Ceval Alimentos S.A. (Ceval). The rating was affirmed.

The rating action is the result of the assignment to Ceval of all of the obligations of Santista under the transaction, in a vote approved by noteholders who hold more than 80% of the outstanding principal balance of the transaction. Along with the assignment to Ceval, the issuer, Santista Export Securitization I Ltd., will now be legally known as Ceval Export Securitization I Ltd., a special-purpose Cayman Islands company. The notes will adopt the new name of the issuer. The assigned responsibilities include a direct and unconditional guarantee by Ceval for payment on the notes. Santista was relieved of its responsibilities, except for its guarantee, which is not a factor in the rating of the transaction.

The rating on Ceval's securitized export notes is based on Ceval's ability to process and export soybean meal and soybean oil to Ceval Export Securitization I Ltd., which in turn, automatically sells the products through a resale contract to Bunge Corp. Ceval and Santista of Brazil, and Bunge Corp of the U.S., are all subsidiaries of the agribusiness company Bunge International Ltd., a Bermuda corporation. According to the assignment of the transaction to Ceval, all performance tests and covenants are based on Ceval's strengths. The transaction's rating is commensurate with Ceval's ability to perform at the investment-grade level.

Ceval's installed crushing capacity for processed soybeans of approximately 7.9 million tons is the largest in Brazil. The company's capacity represents more than one-third of the total for the country. In 1998, Ceval exported more than US$900 million in soy products. The company's strong export performance allows it to comfortably handle the export requirements of the transaction, which is 1.5x the debt service requirement for each six-month payment period, Standard & Poor's said. -- CreditWire

Copyright 1999, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services