Orphan structure explained

Orphan structure or Orphan SPV or orphaning are terms used in structured finance closely associated with creating SPVs ("Special Purpose Vehicles") for securitisation transactions where the notional equity of the SPV is deliberately handed over to an unconnected 3rd party who themselves have no control over the SPV; thus the SPV becomes an "orphan" whose equity is controlled by no one.

Description

In an orphaned SPV, the equity is held by a 3rd party with no legal relationship to the two main parties engaging in the securitisation (the asset user(s), and the lender(s) financing the assets). While this 3rd party legally "owns" the equity of the SPV, the way in which their ownership is structured gives them no control over the SPV.

The driver for orphaning is to enable the securitisation transaction to be held off-balance sheet. If the asset users, or the asset lenders, owned (or legally controlled) the SPV equity, then the SPV would be consolidated into their group accounts. This is something that the lenders to the SPV have to avoid as they are mostly banks and only want to give in loans. Users of the asset may want to avoid if their borrowing limits may have been reached (or they want a regulatory/liability firewall between themselves and the asset(s)).[1] [2]

Orphaned SPV structures allow lenders to separate the asset finance, from the asset user(s), thus enabling them to move the asset to other users(s) should the situation arise (e.g. bankruptcy of a user), without having to recreate a new SPV and/or reraise new loans.

Orphaning is at the heart of global securitisation transactions, and without orphaning, most securitisation SPVs would cease to be useful or effective to their creators.[3]

An orphaned SPV is, by definition, an artificial creation as everybody knows who "controls" the SPV. There are instances outside of securitisations where orphaned SPVs, and the ability to separate "true" owners from "legal" owners, can be used for tax avoidance. For example, restructuring equity into debt, and then relocating this debt to a tax haven via orphaned SPVs, is a classic abuse of orphaning. This is why orphaning is not available in all jurisdictions, and where it is offered in non-tax havens (i.e. where there are domestic taxes), it is strictly controlled and monitored by taxing authorities.

Owners

The SPV is generally a limited liability company issued in either an offshore location (e.g. the Cayman Islands SPV) or an onshore location (e.g. Irish Section 110 SPV).[4] [5]

The key considerations in deciding what 3rd party entities are used to "own" the orphaned SPV equity are driven by:Given the above, the orphaned SPV equity is usually held by a nominee share trustee company on trust pursuant to a Declaration of Trust (and never via an individual).

Specialist law firms provide such trust services (can often be a subsidiary of the law firm advising on the main SPV and/or securitisation transaction).[6]

Often only a small number of shares are created for a nominal sum (the exact specific amounts depending on the specifics of the jurisdiction) as the "equity" of the SPV. These shares are then independently purchased by the 3rd party entity in question using their own funds to complete the purchase (cannot be paid for directly by the main parties).

Some jurisdictions have used Charitable Trusts due to their particular robustness to avoiding bankruptcy (not legally possible for it to enter a bankruptcy process), however, this had led to some public concerns over the integrity of the overall orphaned SPV structure (e.g. Matheson in Ireland),[7] [8] and has now been stopped in Ireland.[9] [10]

The Non-Charitable Purpose Trust is emerging as a preferred option in some jurisdictions.[11]

Abuses

The global securitisation market is large (circa US$10 trillion in assets)[12] and involves multinationals getting assets financed by global banks structured in SPVs created by global law and accounting firms. The orphaned SPV structures they use are understood and accepted in many jurisdictions, by regulators and taxing authorities as vehicles in which to conduct global securitisation transactions.

Unfortunately, the global acceptance of the main orphaned SPV structures has attracted the attention of users who are not seeking to conduct standard tax-transparent securitisation transactions, but who have other aims and objectives which regulators and tax authorities did not envisage orphaned SPVs being used for.[13]

Ireland is the largest EU location for orphaned SPVs,[20] and the above abuses have drawn warnings from the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland[21] [22]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Creating and Understanding SPVs. PwC. 2012.
  2. Web site: Cayman Islands Orphan SPVs in Shipping. Walkers. January 2017.
  3. Web site: SPV Taxation. Grant Thornton. September 2015.
  4. Web site: Cayman Islands Securitisations. Conyers Dill Pearman. 2016.
  5. Web site: Establishing SPVs in Ireland. Arthur Cox. 2014. 2018-03-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20180316023100/http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Arthur-Cox-Establishing-SPVs-in-Ireland-for-Structured-Finance-Transactions-May-2014.pdf. 2018-03-16. dead.
  6. Web site: Jersey Orphaned SPVs. Hatstone Law. 2014.
  7. Web site: Law Firm Matheson Uses Irish Charities to help Hedge Funds cut tax. Irish Times. 27 August 2015.
  8. Web site: Vulture funds using Matheson Law Firm in-house charities to avoid paying Irish tax, says TD Stephen Donnelly. Irish Times. 14 July 2016.
  9. Web site: Irish Charities Regulator rejects Matheson Charities in Section 110 SPVs. Irish Times. 28 April 2017.
  10. Web site: Stephen Donnelly Welcomes Charity Regulator Clampdown on Section 110 Charities. Fianna Fail. 27 April 2017.
  11. Web site: Non-charitable purpose trusts in Guernsey. Lexology. 2014.
  12. Web site: Global Securitisation Market. Morgan Stanley. 2017. 2018-03-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20180317162303/https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/investment-insights/ii_overviewofglobalsecuritizedassets_en.pdf. 2018-03-17. dead.
  13. Web site: Orphan structures: holding companies accountable when owners don't exist. Open Global Rights. 2 August 2017.
  14. Web site: Ireland confronts another tax scandal closer to home. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211/https://www.ft.com/content/619c9bde-74f3-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a . 2022-12-11 . subscription . live. Financial Times. 11 September 2016.
  15. Web site: Loophole lets firms earning millions pay €250 in Tax. The Irish Times. 6 July 2017.
  16. Web site: NAMA forced to pay €160m tax bill after Section 110 loophole closed. The Irish Independent. 2 February 2017.
  17. Web site: Global Finance and the Russian Connection. Professor Jim Stewart Trinity College Dublin. 27 February 2018.
  18. Web site: How Russian Firms Funnelled €100bn through Dublin. The Sunday Business Post. 4 March 2018.
  19. Web site: More than €100bn in Russian Money funneled through Dublin. The Irish Times. 4 March 2018.
  20. Web site: Ireland is top Eurozone jurisdiction for SPVs. Irish Independent. 19 August 2017.
  21. Web site: Former Regulator says Irish politicians mindless of IFSC risks. The Irish Times. 5 March 2018.
  22. Web site: Irish SPVs more a worry for other countries than State . The Irish Times. 13 January 2017.