Securitisation release

Paragon Group Of Companies PLC 26 June 2003 PARAGON SIGNS MORTGAGE BACKED NOTE ISSUE The Paragon Group of Companies PLC ('Paragon') has today, through Paragon Mortgages (No.5) PLC, signed agreements in respect of the issue of mortgage backed notes in the aggregate amount of £250,000,000 (the 'Notes'). The £250,000,000 of Notes will be issued by Paragon Mortgages (No.5) PLC in two classes. The senior notes in the amount of £226,250,000 are expected to be assigned a rating of Aaa/AAA by Moody's Investors Service Limited and Standard & Poors respectively. Moody's and Standard and Poors are expected to assign ratings of A2/A, respectively, to the £23,750,000 Class B Notes. Although all classes of Notes will share the same security, the Class A Notes will have priority over the Class B Notes to quarterly payments of interest and as to principal in the event of enforcement. The senior notes are split between a fast pay A1 tranche of £50,000,000 and a slow pay A2 tranche of £176,250,000. The pool consists entirely of buy-to-let mortgages. Paragon is a leading player in the increasingly important buy-to-let market where it specialises in meeting the requirements of the professional landlord. The credit quality on all of Paragon's buy-to-let portfolios has been excellent. The current percentage of borrowers over three months in arrears in the Group's buy-to-let business is just 0.13%, which compares favourably with the Council of Mortgage Lenders' statistics of 1.06% for the owner-occupied market. The credit enhancement of only 1.6% reflects the rating agencies acceptance of the high credit standards in the portfolio. The margins over LIBOR for each of the tranches of the Notes are: 22 bp for the Class A1 Notes 32bp for the Class A2 Notes 135bp for the Class B Notes The Notes are secured by performing mortgages, as well as a cash fund of 1.6% of the aggregate current balances of the Notes. Paragon Finance PLC will be the administrator for the issue. HSBC Markets London are lead managers for the offering. The transaction is scheduled to close on 26 June 2003, subject to documentation and appropriate consents. Nigel Terrington, Paragon's chief executive said: 'We are pleased to have completed another transaction in the UK securitisation market. The low levels of credit enhancement in the deal which follows the recent upgrade of PM3 reflects the fact that the rating agencies are becoming increasingly comfortable with the high credit quality of Paragon's buy-to-let mortgage programme.' For further information, please contact: Nigel Terrington John Wriglesworth Paragon Group of Companies The Wriglesworth Consultancy Direct line: 0121 712 2024 Office: 020 7620 2228 Robert Drutman, Director HSBC Bank plc Direct line: 020 7991 5889 Notes to editors: The Paragon Group of Companies PLC is one of the UK's largest independent specialist lenders offering buy-to-let mortgages, personal loans, retail and vehicle finance, with over £2.7 billion of assets. In its interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2003, pre-tax profits rose 14.1% to £23.4 million (2002 H1: £20.5 million), with buy-to-let mortgage advances up 37.9% to £330.9 million (2002 H1: £240.0 million) and provision for losses down 14.6% to £8.8 million (2002 H1: £10.3 million). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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