Alliance and Leicester came to the market in early March with a £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) RMBS issue through its Fosse master trust. This was the UK lender’s first issue since its acquisition by Santander. Led by Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, the deal set a positive tone to the market, being upsized from an initial £1 billion and attracting more than 40 investors to the book. It incorporated three tranches: fixed-rate and floating-rate sterling and floating-rate euros, and priced at 120 basis points over.
Much was made of the fact that the deal was the first in Europe not to incorporate a put option back to the issuer. Although there have been a number of deals since September 2009 they have all incorporated a put, leading some in the market to describe them as "covered bonds in ABS clothing".
No put...
