Funds Ratings

KBRA Analytics launches Private Credit Benchmarking on Credit Intelligence platform. 2 minutes read NEW YORK-(BUSINESS WIRE)-#KBRA-KBRA Analytics, a leading provider of data, financial information, and credit analysis solutions, today announced the launch of Private Credit Benchmarking on its Credit Intelligence platform, delivering the market's first borrower-level benchmarking solution built entirely on analyst-adjusted financial data. The product directly addresses one of the private credit market's information gaps: the inability to make objective comparable assessments across middle-market borrowers. Private credit has grown into a multi-trillion-dollar asset class, yet market participants have lacked a reliable framework to assess how individual borrowers perform relative to their true peers. KBRA Analytics' benchmarks are built on a dataset of more than 4,000 unique middle-market borrowers, incorporating nearly 300,000 analyst-adjusted financial data points derived from KBRA's experience evaluating more than $1.3 trillion in private credit debt issuance. The result is a standardized, normalized view of leverage, interest coverage, profitability, revenue growth and other key credit metrics, which can be filtered by industry, borrower size, and segment. Unlike competing approaches that rely on fund-level aggregates or "as-reported" company financials, KBRA Analytics' benchmarks reflect the same analytical rigor applied in the KBRA credit assessment process. This enables general partners, lenders, and other market participants to assess relative credit positioning across a truly comparable peer universe, rather than a proxy. "Private credit markets have matured dramatically but are still opaque," said Kate Kennedy, Chief Corporate Strategy Officer at KBRA. "Our benchmarks address this gap. By delivering data from thousands of borrowers, we are providing market participants with the foundation needed to underwrite with greater confidence, monitor portfolios with greater precision, and communicate credit positioning to investors more clearly." Private Credit Benchmarking is available directly within Credit Intelligence alongside KBRA credit opinions. Users can incorporate benchmarking for internal credit committees and investor reporting, enabling a more integrated workflow from analysis to presentation. The launch expands Credit Intelligence, KBRA Analytics' platform designed to provide transparency into private credit markets. The enhanced platform delivers a comprehensive private credit analysis solution, combining benchmarking, proprietary borrower-level data, credit assessments, and reporting within a single environment. About KBRA Analytics KBRA Analytics, LLC (KBRA Analytics) is our premier product platform for high-quality data and advanced analytics. Our seasoned teams of industry specialists across each product provide unparalleled insight creating a foundation of deeper analysis and rapid discovery for users. KBRA Analytics is an affiliate of Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA). KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered in the U.S., designated to provide ratings in Canada, and with credit rating affiliates registered in the EU and UK. KBRA Analytics is a portfolio company of Parthenon Capital. Media Adam Tempkin, Senior Director of Communications +1 646-731-1347 [email protected] 14 minutes ago 15 minutes ago

KBRA releases updates to its Investment Fund Debt Global Rating Methodology. NEW YORK-(BUSINESS WIRE)-#creditratingagency-KBRA releases its updated Investment Fund Debt Global Rating Methodology describing KBRA's approach to rating debt issued by investment funds or secured by investment fund assets. This methodology supersedes the prior version dated March 12, 2020. The update includes the addition of two appendices to enhance transparency regarding the application of the methodology. Appendix A explains how KBRA uses guideline quantitative determinant weightings to facilitate ratings consistency across similar fund debt transactions. Appendix B illustrates how KBRA applies its rating methodology to a hypothetical feeder fund that issues debt and equity to invest in a direct lending master fund. The update also includes a change to increase the weighting of the cash flow determinate typically used when rating notes issued by feeder funds into direct lending funds. KBRA has rated fund debt transactions since 2015, across multiple vintages and structural configurations. Through ongoing surveillance, KBRA has evaluated performance across multiple economic and interest rate environments and taken approximately 3,000 rating actions, reflecting transaction-specific performance, portfolio evolution, structural protections, and broader macroeconomic conditions. This broad experience informs KBRA's assessment of asset quality, cash flow durability, recoveries, and manager execution. Consistent with this experience, KBRA has determined that credit performance in transactions backed by direct lending corporate loans are influenced by the durability and timing of underlying cash flows, particularly under stress scenarios. Accordingly, KBRA has increased the typical cash flow determinant weighting for certain transactions. KBRA expects this update will impact less than 5% of approximately 1,300 outstanding ratings assigned under the Investment Fund Debt Global Rating Methodology, and the impact is expected to generally be positive within a two-notch range. About KBRA KBRA, one of the major credit rating agencies, is registered in the U.S., EU, and the UK. KBRA is recognized as a Qualified Rating Agency in Taiwan, and is also a Designated Rating Organization for structured finance ratings in Canada. As a full-service credit rating agency, investors can use KBRA ratings for regulatory capital purposes in multiple jurisdictions. Doc ID: 1013881 Eric Neglia, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Corporate Portfolio Finance +1 646-731-2456 [email protected] Thomas Speller, Senior Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Funds Debt Ratings +44 20 8148 1025 [email protected] Ryon Aguirre, Senior Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Funds Debt Ratings +1 646-731-1239 [email protected] William Cox, Chief Rating Officer +1 646-731-2472 [email protected] Business Development Contacts Jason Lilien, Senior Managing Director +1 646-731-2442 [email protected]

KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2026-4 (SEMT 2026-4). NEW YORK-(BUSINESS WIRE)-#creditratingagency-KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to 102 classes of mortgage pass-through certificates from Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2026-4 (SEMT 2026-4), a $742.1 million prime RMBS transaction. The pool is comprised of 598 first-lien, fully amortizing fixed rate mortgages with mostly 30-year maturity terms. The collateral is characterized by a weighted average (WA) original credit score of 778 and moderate borrower equity, with a WA original LTV of 69.9% and WA original CLTV of 69.9%. KBRA's rating approach incorporated loan-level analysis of the mortgage pool through its Residential Asset Loss Model (REALM), an examination of the results from third-party loan file due diligence, cash flow modeling analysis of the transaction's payment structure, reviews of key transaction parties and an assessment of the transaction's legal structure and documentation. This analysis is further described in its U.S. RMBS Rating Methodology. Related Publications Methodologies Disclosures Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above. A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at www.kbra.com. About KBRA Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA), one of the major credit rating agencies (CRA), is a full-service CRA registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, KBRA is designated as a Designated Rating Organization (DRO) by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized as a Qualified Rating Agency by Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission and is recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider (CRP) in the U.S. Doc ID: 1013883 Analytical Contacts Chris Deasy, Senior Director (Lead Analyst) +1 646-731-1311 [email protected] Patrick Gervais, Senior Managing Director (Rating Committee Chair) +1 646-731-2426 [email protected] Business Development Contact