Student Loan Corp's Deal Launched At 150BPS Over Benchmark

Student Loan Corp.'s (STU) $1.396 billion deal that is eligible for funding under a Federal Reserve program has launched, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The student loan-backed deal, dubbed SLCLT 2009-A, launched at 150 basis points over prime, a benchmark.

The single-tranche bond is led by Citigroup (C), and investors can get cheap loans from the Fed to buy it through the Fed's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF.

The sixth loan application deadline for TALF is Thursday, and more than $8 billion in deals has surfaced this month in anticipation of tapping investor funds via the facility.

Most of the deals sold on Wednesday. Issuers included General Electric Co. (GE), SLM Corp. (SLM), Wheels Inc. and First National Bank of Omaha.

Launched in March, TALF offers investors loans at attractive rates to buy newly created asset-backed securities. Most of the consumer loan-backed deals sold this year were eligible for TALF, which helped revitalize the securitization market and improved the availability of credit for consumers.

Initially, the program was viewed as user-unfriendly, but the Fed's cheap loans drew investors who overcame lengthy documentation and other implementation issues to participate. Now, many hope it is extended past its scheduled expiration at the end of this year.

The Fed has recently also begun to offer attractive financing for new and existing commercial mortgage-backed loans in an effort to revive the commercial real estate sector. The next loan application deadline for the commercial-property portion is Aug. 20.

On Wednesday, General Electric sold two deals eligible for TALF financing, totaling $2.25 billion.

SLM Corp., better known as Sallie Mae, sold a $1.68 billion deal, and World Financial Network sold three smaller deals.

Wheels Inc. sold a $703.3 million fleet lease-backed deal and First National Bank of Omaha sold a $500 million credit card loan-backed deal.

-By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2227; [e-mail]