Textainer Marine Containers VII Limited, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Textainer, issued $550 million of fixed-rate asset-backed notes, comprised of $523.5 million in Class A notes and $26.5 million in Class B notes.

The notes were issued to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933 and to non-U.S. persons in accordance with Regulation S promulgated under the act. The Class A and Class B notes were rated A(sf) and BBB(sf), respectively, by Standard & Poor’s. The notes have a fixed coupon, a weighted average life of approximately five years and are secured by a pledge of Textainer Marine Containers VII Limited’s assets. Proceeds from the issuance were used primarily to pay down debt in bank facilities.

“We are extremely pleased with the successful issuance of these notes, which further bolsters our capacity for organic growth,” Michael K. Chan, executive vice president and CFO of Textainer, said. “The proceeds will free up borrowing capacity in our bank facilities for incremental container investments. Moreover, we were able to lock in fixed rate debt at very attractive levels below any of our existing fixed rate notes.”

Textainer is a lessor of intermodal containers.