LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 23, 2007—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has assigned its preliminary credit ratings to the £415 million (equivalent) mortgage-backed floating-rate notes series 2007-1 to be issued by Ludgate Funding PLC, an SPE. At the same time, Ludgate Funding will issue £2.3 million of excess-spread backed rated notes (see list below). The originator, Freedom Funding Ltd., was established in May 2004 and trades as Freedom Lending. In July 2006, all the shares in Freedom Funding were acquired by Merrill Lynch International Bank Ltd., its current ultimate parent. Freedom Funding lends primarily to prime borrowers and focuses on self-certified borrowers and the buy-to-let sector. All of its business is generated through mortgage intermediaries. In
