Standard & Poor’s

Definition of Standard & Poor’s (S&P)

Standard & Poor’s, commonly known as S&P Global Ratings, is a leading global provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, and analytics. In the context of commercial mortgages, S&P acts as a third-party credit rating agency that evaluates the risk associated with Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) and other debt instruments secured by commercial real estate. Their primary role is to provide investors with an independent assessment of the likelihood that a borrower or a pool of commercial loans will meet their financial obligations.

Detailed Description in the Commercial Mortgage Context

Standard & Poor’s plays a critical role in the secondary mortgage market. When commercial loans are pooled together and sold as bonds to investors, S&P analyzes the underlying collateral—such as office buildings, retail centers, hotels, and industrial warehouses—to assign a letter grade (ranging from AAA for the highest quality to D for default).

The S&P rating process for commercial mortgages involves a rigorous "bottom-up" analysis. This includes:

• Net Cash Flow (NCF) Analysis: S&P typically applies its own conservative underwriting standards to the properties, often resulting in an "S&P Underwritten NCF" that is lower than the lender's original projections.
• Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR): They evaluate the property's ability to cover mortgage payments based on stabilized income.
• Loan-to-Value (LTV) Adjustments: S&P calculates an "S&P Value" for the properties using stressed capitalization rates to determine the actual leverage of the deal.
• Tenant Quality: They assess the creditworthiness of major tenants within the commercial properties to gauge the stability of the rental income.
• Market Analysis: S&P evaluates the geographic location, local economic trends, and property type concentrations to determine the risk of localized market downturns.

Importance to the Commercial Real Estate Market

The presence of an S&P rating provides transparency and liquidity to the commercial mortgage market. Because many institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, are required by regulation or internal policy to invest only in "investment-grade" securities, S&P’s ratings determine the pool of available capital for commercial developers and owners.

Furthermore, the criteria set by S&P often influence how original lenders (such as commercial banks and investment firms) structure their loans. If a lender knows that S&P will require a higher Debt Yield or more significant Reserves to achieve a certain rating, the lender will often impose those requirements on the borrower during the initial loan application process.

Ultimately, a higher rating from Standard & Poor’s leads to lower interest rates for the borrower, as the perceived risk to the investor is reduced, making the debt more attractive to the global financial markets.