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PARIS (Standard & Poor's) June 9, 2006—Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said
today that its ranking on Italfondiario SpA is affirmed as "ABOVE AVERAGE" as
a primary and special servicer of residential and commercial mortgages in
Italy. The outlook remains stable.
The ranking reflects the following:
— The executive team has a high degree of industry knowledge and proficiency
with regards to the servicing and special servicing of mortgage-backed loans.
— A centralized servicing platform provides for efficiency, segregation of
responsibility, and swift decision-making, while allowing close control by
management.
— A well-designed technological environment produces the necessary levels of
process automation, robust control, and management and investor reporting.
— Innovative practices maximize opportunities in a challenging asset
resolution jurisdiction, as demonstrated by Italfondiario's success in
achieving a high rate of profitable collections with extensive use of
"discounted payoffs" (DPOs).
Italfondiario, a former mortgage bank incorporated in 1891, is now a
loan-servicing company. In 2004, Fortress Investment Fund, Italfondiario's
parent company, acquired the remaining 50% of Italfondiario from its Italian
partners. In December 2005, Fortress and Merrill Lynch acquired €13.3 billion
of NPLs and 81% of Castello Gestione Crediti S.r.l. (CGC). The remaining 19%
was retained by Banca Intesa SpA. Italfondiario entered into a servicing
agreement with CGC in February 2006, until such time as the two companies
merge.
"Italfondiario has a demonstrated ability in the collection of NPLs and
resolving assets profitably," said Standard and Poor's servicer analyst
Marie-Noelle Brisson.
Ms Brisson added: "Italfondiario entered into a renewable servicing contract
with CGC, in February 2006. The statistics and the impact of the CGC large
portfolio addition have not been considered in this servicing evaluation. It
will be addressed in the next review, once the portfolio has been fully
integrated."
Standard & Poor's servicer evaluations offer a comprehensive assessment of a
company's operational capabilities, providing a means of benchmarking a
servicer's performance against its peers, industry standards, and prudent
servicing practices.
In Standard & Poor's analysis, it considers several factors including an
organization's background, control environment, staffing, systems, key asset
administration functions, financial profile, and compliance with applicable
laws, regulations, and industry standards to derive an overall servicer
ranking.
The full servicer evaluation report, titled "Servicer Evaluation:
Italfondiario SpA" can be found on RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based
credit analysis system, at www.ratingsdirect.com. The article can also be
found on Standard & Poor's Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Select Credit
Ratings, then find the article under Servicer Evaluations. For more details on
Standard & Poor's servicer evaluation product, see "Servicer Evaluation
Ranking Criteria", which was published on RatingsDirect in January 2006 and
the "Select Servicer List" (published monthly; please click on Quicklist, then
scroll down to Structured Finance). For this report, call: Client Support
Europe on (44) 20-7176-7176. Members of the media may contact the Press Office
Hotline on (44) 20-7176-3605 or via media_europe@standardandpoors.com. Local
media contact numbers are: Paris (33) 1-4420-6657; Frankfurt (49)
69-33-999-225; Stockholm (46) 8-440-5914; or Moscow (7) 495-783-4017.
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