UK's B&B securitises 2.9 bln stg of home mortgages

LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Bradford & Bingley (BB.L: ), Britain's largest buy-to-let mortgage lender, has securitised 2.9 billion pounds ($5.8 billion) of residential mortgages in a deal that could help it raise funding to extend new business. The first transaction this year under the bank's Aire Valley master trust programme, completed on Wednesday, included 2.5 billion pounds of triple-A-rated notes and 400 million pounds of subordinated notes, IGM Structured Finance Watch reported. The deal may help the troubled bank get needed liquidity at a time that raising wholesale funding in the money markets is not easy. It also comes at a time that B&B is bolstering its balance sheet by raising 400 million pounds of capital in a shareholder rights issue. B&B shares gained as much as 12.5 percent and closed up 6.25 percent at 59.5... [read full story]