SPV: Special Purpose Vehicle

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Definition

An SPV, or special purpose vehicle, is an ad-hoc vehicle. In other words, it is a legal structure created to serve a specific purpose. SPVs are found in structured finance where the main reason for their use is to isolate certain risks. However, the reasons can also be to: 

  • classify risks (securitization),
  • transferring assets (asset finance), 
  • optimize the taxation of certain assets (asset finance), 
  • share the ownership of companies (holding companies),
  • share risks (project finance),
  • obtain good quality financing.

SPVs can have different names or different legal forms depending on the reason for setting them up or the countries in which they are located.

Example

Examples of SPVs used in structured finance include:schema