Honda Canada Finance Special Purpose Trust

HART, a special purpose trust established in March, 1999, to securitize loans and leases originated by Honda Canada Finance Inc. (HCFI), completed its third securitization transaction on November 29, 2000. Pursuant to the transaction, HART securitized a $365 million pool of closed-end leases of Honda and Acura automobiles, mini-vans and sports utility vehicles. The transaction was funded by HART’s second public issuance—$200 million of senior asset-backed notes—and the private issuance of approximately $150.8 million of commercial paper. The transaction, structured and led by CIBC World Markets, is the first operating lease securitization in the Canadian term market and builds on the success of the March, 2000, HART bullet note issue, which was also the first in Canada.

A team from Stikeman Elliott in Toronto led by Michael Rumball, Mark McElheran and Maurice Swan (corporate), and assisted by Stacey Nice (corporate) and Kevin Kelly and David Glicksman (tax), acted on behalf of CIBC World Markets and HART. Acting on behalf of HCFI was a team from McMillan Binch led by Peter Willis (corporate finance) and Michael Templeton (tax), with assistance from Nicole Frew and Peter Milligan (corporate finance).