DBRS Morningstar Confirms AAA (sf) Rating on Class A Notes Issued by VCO CLO 2018-1, LLC

DBRS, Inc. (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed its rating on the Class A Senior Secured Floating-Rate Notes (the Class A Notes) issued by VCO CLO 2018-1, LLC (the Issuer) at AAA (sf) pursuant to the Indenture dated as of August 22, 2018, by and between VCO CLO 2018-1, LLC as Issuer and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (rated AA with a Negative trend by DBRS Morningstar) as Trustee.

The rating on the Class A Notes addresses the timely payment of interest and the ultimate payment of principal on or before the Stated Maturity (as defined in the Indenture).

The Class A Notes issued by VCO CLO 2018-1, LLC are collateralized primarily by a portfolio of U.S. senior secured floating-rate middle-market and broadly syndicated corporate loans. The Issuer will be managed by Vista Credit Opportunities Management, L.P. (Vista) as Collateral Manager.

The rating reflects the following:

(1) The Indenture dated as of August 22, 2018;
(2) The integrity of the transaction structure;
(3) DBRS Morningstar’s assessment of the portfolio quality;
(4) Adequate credit enhancement to withstand projected collateral loss rates under various cash flow stress scenarios; and
(5) DBRS Morningstar’s assessment of the origination, servicing, and collateralized loan obligation management capabilities of Vista.

To assess portfolio credit quality, DBRS Morningstar provides a credit estimate or internal assessment for each nonfinancial corporate obligor in the portfolio not rated by DBRS Morningstar. Credit estimates are not ratings; rather, they represent a model-driven default probability for each obligor that is used in assigning a rating to the facility.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework and its methodologies can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/357792.

As the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) spread around the world, certain countries imposed quarantines and lockdowns, including the United States, which accounts for more than one fourth of confirmed cases worldwide. The coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected not only the economies of the nations most afflicted, but also the overall global economy with diminished demand for goods and services as well as disrupted supply chains. The effects of the pandemic may result in deteriorated financial conditions for many companies and obligors, some of which will experience the effects of such negative economic trends more than others. At the same time, governments and central banks in multiple regions, including the United States and Europe, have taken significant measures to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

In conjunction with DBRS Morningstar’s commentary, “Global Macroeconomic Scenarios: Implications for Credit Ratings,” published on April 16, 2020, and updated on July 22, 2020, DBRS Morningstar further considers additional adjustments to assumptions for the collateralized loan obligations (CLO) asset class that consider the moderate economic scenario outlined in the commentary. The adjustments include a higher default assumption for the weighted-average (WA) credit quality of the current collateral obligation portfolio. To derive the higher default assumption, DBRS Morningstar notches ratings for obligors in certain industries and obligors at various rating levels based on their perceived exposure to the adverse disruptions caused by the coronavirus. Considering a higher default assumption would result in losses that exceed the original default expectations for the affected classes of notes. DBRS Morningstar may adjust the default expectations further if there are changes in the duration or severity of the adverse disruptions.

For CLOs, DBRS Morningstar ran an additional higher default adjustment on the weighted-average DBRS Morningstar Risk Score of the current collateral obligation pool, and this adjusted modelling pool was run through the DBRS Morningstar CLO Asset Model to generate a stressed default rate. DBRS Morningstar then performed a cash flow model analysis to determine the breakeven default rate for the rated debt. The breakeven default rate is computed over nine combinations of default timing and interest rate stresses. The breakeven default rate must exceed the lifetime total default rate generated by the DBRS Morningstar CLO Asset Model for the debt in order to achieve the rating. The results of this adjustment indicate that the Class A Notes can withstand an additional higher default stress commensurate with a moderate-scenario impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information regarding DBRS Morningstar’s simplified set of macroeconomic scenarios for select economies related to the coronavirus, please see please see its April 16, 2020, commentary “Global Macroeconomic Scenarios: Implications for Credit Ratings” at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/359679; its April 22, 2020, commentary “Global Macroeconomic Scenarios: Application to Credit Ratings” at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/359903; and its July 22, 2020, updated commentary, “Global Macroeconomic Scenarios: July Update” at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/364318.

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

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

The principal methodology is Rating CLOs and CDOs of Large Corporate Credit (July 21, 2020), which can be found on dbrsmorningstar.com under Methodologies & Criteria.
For more information regarding rating methodologies and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/357883.

For more information regarding structured finance rating methodologies and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/358308.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process for this rating action. DBRS Morningstar had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities in connection with this rating action.

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 (DBRS Morningstar) for use in the European Union. The following additional regulatory disclosures apply to endorsed ratings:

The last rating action on this transaction took place on August 21, 2019, when DBRS Morningstar confirmed the rating of the Class A Notes at AAA (sf).

For further information on DBRS Morningstar historical default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in a central repository, see: http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.

Lead Analyst: Arthur Krivoruk, Analyst, U.S. Structured Credit – Global Structured Finance
Rating Committee Chair: Jerry van Koolbergen, Managing Director, Head of U.S. Structured Credit
Initial Rating Date: August 3, 2018

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

DBRS, Inc.
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New York, NY 10005 USA
Tel. +1 212 806-3277

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https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/364310/rating-clos-and-cdos-of-large-corporate-credit
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