Portion defined. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section and § 301.7701(i)-1, a portion of an entity includes all assets that support one or more of the same issues of debt obligations. For this purpose, an asset supports a debt obligation if, under the terms of the debt obligation (or underlying arrangement), the timing and amount of payments on the debt obligation are in large part determined, either directly or indirectly, by the timing and amount of payments or projected payments on the asset or a group of assets that includes the asset. Indirect payment arrangements include, for example, a swap or other hedge, or arrangements where the timing and amount of payments on the debt obligations are determined by reference to a group of assets (or an index or other type of model) that has an expected payment experience similar to that of the assets. For purposes of this paragraph, the term payments includes all proceeds and receipts from an asset.

Certain assets and rights to assets disregarded—(1) Credit enhancement assets. An asset that qualifies as a credit enhancement contract (as defined in § 301.7701(i)-1(c)(4)(ii)) is not included in a portion as a separate asset, but is treated as part of the assets in the portion to which it relates under § 301.7701(i)-1(c)(4)(i). An asset that does not qualify as a credit enhancement contract (as defined in § 301.7701(i)-1(c)(4)(ii)), but that nevertheless serves the same function as a credit enhancement contract, is not included in a portion as a separate asset or otherwise.

Assets unlikely to service obligations. A portion does not include assets that are unlikely to produce any significant cash flows for the holders of the debt obligations. This paragraph applies even if the holders of the debt obligations are legally entitled to cash flows from the assets. Thus, for example, even if the sale of a building would cause a series of debt obligations to be redeemed, the building is not included in a portion if it is not likely to be sold.

Recourse. An asset is not included in a portion solely because the holders of the debt obligations have recourse to the holder of that asset.

Portion as obligor—(1) In general. For purposes of section 7701(i)(2)(A)(ii), a portion of an entity is treated as the obligor of all debt obligations supported by the assets in that portion.

Example. The following example illustrates the principles of this section:

Corporation Z owns $1,000,000,000 in assets including an office complex and $90,000,000 of real estate mortgages.

On November 30, 1998, Corporation Z issues eight classes of bonds, Class A through Class H. Each class is secured by a separate letter of credit and by a lien on the office complex. One group of the real estate mortgages supports Class A through Class D, another group supports Class E through Class G, and a third group supports Class H. It is anticipated that the cash flows from each group of mortgages will service its related bonds.

Each of the following constitutes a separate portion of Corporation Z: the group of mortgages supporting Class A through Class D; the group of mortgages supporting Class E through Class G; and the group of mortgages supporting Class H. No other asset is included in any of the three portions notwithstanding the lien of the bonds on the office complex and the fact that Corporation Z is the issuer of the bonds. The letters of credit are treated as incidents of the mortgages to which they relate.

For purposes of section 7701(i)(2)(A)(ii), each portion described above is treated as the obligor of the bonds of that portion, notwithstanding the fact that Corporation Z is the legal obligor with respect to the bonds.