When, at the eleventh hour, lead manager HypoVereinsbank decided to call off a $175 million securitization for the Metro Rail Transit Corp. MRTC, the prospects of seeing any international asset-backed securitizations coming out of the Philippines seemed as remote as ever.
The deal was to be backed by equity rental payments received by the MRTC consortium from the Department of Transportation and Communication DTC for constructing the railway that runs over the EDSA highway in Metro Manila.
On the face of it, the transaction seemed to have everything going for it secure payments under what seemed to be a government guarantee, ratings secured from Fitch and Moody's and good spreads on offer with...
