Access Point Goes Where It’s Never Gone Before

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Jon Wright, Access Point Financial

Atlanta-based Access Point Financial, Inc. has entered the asset-backed securitization market with its first transaction representing $183 million of fixed-rate notes secured by 126 loans made to hotel owners throughout the United States. Both Access Point Financial and Morningstar Credit Ratings, L.L.C., said it is the first publicly rated securitization of loans financing furnishings, fixtures and equipment in the hospitality sector.

The transaction is comprised of 126 loans and represents a diversified group of brands and locations, according to an Access Point Financial news release. It was secured by a small portion of its portfolio of CapEx loans made to independent boutique hotel owners and franchisees of major hotel brands for renovations and repositioning.

“By entering the securitization market, we will continue to provide even more relevant product offerings to hotel owners across North America in addition to expanding our portfolio of high quality loans,” Jon Hellbusch, managing director, Capital Markets for Access Point Financial, said in the release.

Founded four years ago by CEO Jon Wright and Stone Point Capital, L.L.C., a private equity firm investment firm, Access Point Financial is a direct full-service lender focused on the hospitality industry.

Wright said in the release that, “Successfully executing a hospitality-only securitization will allow us to even better adapt our client solutions while ensuring APF remains the leading, go-to source for hospitality financing.”

Hellbusch said the company was pleased with the reception to the ABS issuance, including from 11 well-known institutional investors.

“This finance strategy enables the company to further diversify and grow our funding base, as well as improve upon overall financing terms,” he said in the prepared statement.

Four classes of notes were issued in connection with the transaction, representing ratings of A+, BBB+, BB+ and BB- from Morningstar Credit Ratings, and A-, BBB, BB and B from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Guggenheim Securities, L.L.C, served as sole book runner and initial purchaser with Amherst Pierpont Securities, L.L.C. serving as an initial purchaser.

A release from Morningstar noted that the fixed-rate loans feature an interest-only period of six to 24 months, followed by a seven- to eight-year amortization period. Morningstar noted that a majority of the loans are secured by a lien on the furnishings, fixtures and equipment (FFE).

“Historically, these loan features encouraged significant prepayments, thereby lowering the weighted average loan life to well below the expected life of the FFE,” the Morningstar release stated.