Hogan Lovells advises LeasePlan on its first Belgian public STS securitisation

Hogan Lovells have advised LeasePlan on a €675m (£570m) landmark STS securitisation transaction involving its Belgian leasing fleet.

The transaction is the first ever Belgian public securitisation of auto lease and residual value receivables, and the first Belgian STS compliant securitisation involving a Belgian issuer.

The UK-based company is “one of the world’s leading leasing companies”, with 1.9 million vehicles in over 30 countries, and the company manages the entire life cycle of the vehicles, from purchase and maintenance to the sale of returned lease vehicles.

The transaction allows LeasePlan to further build on its strategy aimed at diversification of funding sources.

The Hogan Lovells team acted as originator legal counsel and was led by Laura Asbati, structured finance partner Robert Masman, structured finance head Ivan Peeters, with support from senior associate Ailsa Davies, and associate Frederik Stappers.

LeasePlan Corporation N.V. acted as arranger, with BNP Paribas and ING Bank N.V. acting jointly as joint lead managers.

The class A notes, in an amount of ​​€500m (£422m), and the class B notes, in an amount of €30.5m (£27.4m), were issued by Bumper BE NV/SA, an institutional company for investment in receivables organised as a public limited liability company under Belgian law.

Bumper BE NV/SA acted through its compartment No. 1 and were officially listed and admitted to trading on the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Robert Masman, partner at Hogan Lovells International LLP, said: “We are delighted to have advised leading player LeasePlan on this landmark Belgium securitization transaction.”

Peeters added: “It is great once again to be at the forefront of market developments in the Belgian structured finance space.”