Liberty Financial has launched a new securitisation deal - or, as one of the bankers associated with the deal put it: "The books for the Liberty 2016-1 SME Trust issuance are open."  The issue size will be A$400 million "with no intention to upsize" according to information released by the lead arranger of the transaction. The deal was expected to be priced by today (20 September 2016), with a settlement date of 23 September.The transaction, consisting of eight tranches, is backed by a pool of small ticket commercial loans, secured by first registered mortgages over commercial or residential properties originated by Liberty Financial Pty Ltd. The top-rated tranche, consisting of $260 million A1 Notes, is rated AAA (sf) by S&P, with weighted average life of 1.8 years and indicative pricing of 1.8 per cent over the 1-month swap rate. The $40 million tranche of A2 Notes, also rated AAA (sf) by S&P, have a WAL of 3.8 years, but pricing has not been indicated for these notes, nor for any of the other lower rated tranches.The arranger is Westpac Institutional Bank and joint lead manager is Credit Suisse.