Eden Park NZ No.1 Trust Nts Assigned AAA/A Rtg by S&P

    MELBOURNE, Australia--Standard & Poor's-- Feb. 14, 2001--Standard & Poor's today assigned ratings for the first securitization in Australia and New Zealand of term notes backed by auto operating leases, which is subject to residual value and maintenance risk.
    The notes issued by The New Zealand Guardian Trust Co. Ltd. as trustee of the Eden Park NZ No. 1 Trust (Eden Park NZ) are backed by commercial fixed-rate operating lease contracts over new and used passenger vehicles, utilities, and light trucks (the assets), which have been originated by ORIX New Zealand Ltd. (ORIX NZ).
    What primarily differentiates this transaction from the recent Australian commercial equipment and auto transactions is:

--	The underlying assets are fixed-rate operating lease contracts, not fixed-rate commercial hire purchase and finance lease contracts;
--	The residual value amounts on the operating leases have been securitized, but they are not contractual payment obligations of the borrowers, and there is no indemnity from an appropriately rated counterparty for the residual value amounts; and
--	Recovery of the residual value amounts will be sourced from the proceeds received from the sale of the asset's underlying collateral, namely passenger vehicles, utilities, and light trucks (the vehicles), which exposes noteholders to vehicle resale risk.

    In determining the credit support required at its rating levels, Standard & Poor's stressed the historical loss experience on ORIX NZ's total operating lease portfolio for the period January 1991-December 1999. The credit support requirements and ratings also reflect:

    -- Macroeconomic factors and government-introduced structural
    changes, such as the removal of tariffs on imported vehicles
    in 1998;
    -- The straight-forward and homogeneous nature of vehicles of
    Eden Park NZ, which has the effect of providing a broader and
    more liquid vehicle resale market; and
    -- The operational experience of ORIX NZ in setting residual
    value amounts for their vehicles and in disposing of vehicles
    once operating leases mature.

    In addition, some of the assets of Eden Park NZ are full maintenance contracts. Under these contracts, ORIX NZ is obligated to provide certain specified maintenance works, which are included in the operating lease documentation. When addressing this risk, Standard & Poor's considered:

    -- The operational experience of ORIX NZ in setting maintenance
    budgets and managing vehicle maintenance;
    -- Legal advice that if ORIX NZ's maintenance obligations are not
    fulfilled, the borrower either has no right of early
    termination or has the right to terminate early subject to the
    payment of a termination fee; and
    -- The cash collateralization by ORIX NZ of amounts covered by
    manufacturer servicer contracts, for vehicle manufacturers
    rated less than triple-'A', where these amounts had been
    netted out of the maintenance component built into the
    borrower's lease payments.

    Eden Park NZ will purchase by way of equitable assignment, an NZ$106.4 million closed pool of assets. Eden Park NZ will fund the purchase of the assets by issuing NZ$91 million in senior triple-'A' rated class A notes, NZ$7.4 million in subordinated single-'A' rated class B notes, and a NZ$9.1 million unrated seller note. NZ$1.03 million of the note proceeds will be utilized to fund various reserve amounts, Standard & Poor's said. -- CreditWire