Per chi s' interessa di RFTA:
Note on RFTA
The price of the RFTA bond has further declined this week following downgrades by banks and financial institutions for the issuing company's stock RAIT Finance (
RAS). We believe RFTA will be fine due to its short maturity. RFTA matures in just 2 years, on August 30, 2017. By looking at the balance sheet of RAS:
1. The Equity of RAS, including the preferred stocks, come to $286 million. This provides an Asset/Debt ratio of 114%. This is not a large asset coverage, but with a view that RFTA matures before most of the other debt that the company owns, the risk of default on RFTA is extremely low.
2. RFTA is a baby bond with “recourse”. This means that in case of default, bondholders have recourse against the assets of the company. If we look at the maturity schedule of recourse debt for RAS, there is only $157 million in debt that matures before RFTA. RFTA’s total size is small and amounts to $70.7 million, and it should not be difficult for the company to cover this amount.
3. The Asset coverage ratio of Total Assets/”Recourse Debt” comes to 581%, which is a solid one for the baby bond.
So why has the risk for RFTA increased?: RAS has been restructuring itself to become a pure play commercial real estate lender. At the same time RAS has been working to reduce its leverage. When RAS reported its latest financial results, the company took a big hit due to unexpected write-offs following its restructuring effort. Should RAS continue to deleverage, it is possible that the company incurs another write-off which can totally deplete shareholders equity. What can RAS do in case this happens?
1. Management can issue new common shares. RAS management has a long history of issuing new equity to support the company. Of course, this will be dilutive to common shareholders, but it will strengthen the company’s balance sheet and the asset coverage for RFTA. I would not be surprised to see RAS management issue new equity soon.
2. Management will have to suspend the dividends for both the common shares and the preferred share. This will also strengthen the coverage for the baby bonds.