Sponsor covenant (1)
Credit assessment techniques
business outlook
financial metrics
implied market default risk
credit rating
Merton-type credit risk models
quantitatively derived credit risk
independent business review
assessment of the business outlook in general and of the sponsor's specific sector
pros
cheap to obtain
cons
subjective
difficult to quantify
Financial statistics and accounting rations, such as interest cover and gearing/ leverage can be compared both
with similar companies
with previous years to spot any trends, particularly deterioration
example
PPF use sponsor covenant ratings based on financial metrics to estimate the likelihood of short-term insolvency.
pros :
simple
cheap
cons
does not give an indication of the absolute level of risk
access to management accounts required (not publicly available)
where a sponsor has issued investments such as equities or bonds, the market prices of these investments can indicate how the market views the sponsor's credit risks and how these change over time.
market prices also determined by liquidity risk, supply and demand and risk appetite of investors
only larger companies tend to have full credit ratings
coverage wider than for implied market default risk method
limited use
where a sponsor has traded equities, a model can be used to determine the probability of default based on the behaviour of the equities.
Quantifiable
not widely available
costly
bonds
excess of the yield over gov bonds
equities
mathematical models used to determine the relationship between a company's equity and debt to derive a cost of default
Merton model
Treats the value of a traded equity as the excess value of its business less its debt
Black-scholes model
Models credit quality as a function of the relative amounts of equity and debt and the volatility of the underlying business
model deriving a credit rating or probability of default from standard corporate accounting data, augmented by confidential credit information from credit bureaux and/or commercial banks.
wide usage
relies on accounting information updated annually in arrears
up-to-date info not easily available
report by external credit advisory specialist
typically an accounting form, insolvency practitioner or other specialist
cons
expensive
pros
take explicit account of the interdependence of funding and sponsor convenant
help trustees determine how much the sponsor can afford.
Risk to a pension scheme will differ from implied market default risk due to a number of factors including differences in priority and/ or security provided
companies pay specialist agency to provide them with credit rating
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