Nissan's $1.3 Billion TALF Eligible Bond Deal Sold

Nissan Motor Co.'s (NSANY) $1.3 billion of bonds that is eligible for funding under the Federal Reserve's facility to revive the consumer-lending market sold Thursday, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The bond is backed by auto loan receivables and is the first one investors could buy using loans from the Fed's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF.

The $357 million 0.32 year tranche sold at 35 basis points over a short-term benchmark.

The $323 million 0.99 year portion sold at 175 basis points over a short-term futures benchmark.

The $493 million 1.98 million portion sold at 180 basis points over the short-term futures benchmark and the $196.5 million 3.16 year part sold at 300 basis points over swaps.

Joint leads on the deal were JP Morgan and Banc of America Securities.

Citigroup Inc. (C) is also in the market with a $3 billion credit-card loan-backed deal.

On Wednesday, Huntington National Bank, a unit of Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN), offered an $830 million bond deal backed by prime auto loans.

Ford Motor Co.'s (F) Ford Motor Credit Co. issued a $2.954 billion deal backed by auto receivables on Wednesday.

The U.S. central bank began accepting requests for its highly anticipated $200 billion program on Tuesday.

The facility is aimed at jump-starting the securitization market, which dried up during the financial crisis in the past few months.

The central bank is issuing loans to investors so they purchase newly created top-tier bonds backed by auto, credit-card, student and small business loans.

The Fed has said the facility could be increased to $1 trillion and include residential and mortgage-backed securities.

Interest in the program is strong, according to some market participants, as investors line up to find out if they are eligible and how best to access the non-recourse funds at rates and terms market participants call "attractive."

Thursday marked the deadline for investors interested in participating in round one of the program that will dole out funds once a month. The Fed hands over funds from this round March 25.

The bank has issued several clarifications about who would be eligible for the funds, saying if a borrower posts "eligible collateral there should be every expectation of financing."

-By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2371; [e-mail]