Complete news archive

  • Capital markets research firm expands in Europe

    TABB Group has appointed Will Rhode as a research analyst in its London office, reporting to Miranda Mizen, the firm's head of European research.

    Larry Tabb, founder and ceo of TABB Group, comments: "Based in our London office, [Will is] already deeply involved in interviewing European buy-side traders for a new, in-depth study on European derivatives - the first of .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • Marlin, GreatAmerica Leasing eye more ABS deals

    Marlin Leasing and GreatAmerica Leasing plan to return to the ABS market, despite the TALF programme for consumer ABS ending this month. Both companies, which were routine issuers before the credit crisis, brought TALF-eligible offerings in recent months.

    Marlin, for one, wants again to be a regular ABS issuer, says ceo Daniel Dyer. New deals could potentially be larger than .......

    News 24 March 2010

  • Indices widen on the roll

    The Markit CDX IG index hit 91.5bp on 22 March, the first trading day for series 14, with a roll value of around 5bp. Healthcare-related names were among the most active credits on the day, notably in the insurance sector.

    "The narrow passage of the healthcare bill on Sunday is generally regarded as a negative development for insurers such as .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • FNMA clarifies loan buyout schedule

    Fannie Mae has clarified the timeline along which delinquent loans will be repurchased out of MBS pools (see SCI issue 174). The agency is set to buy out loans on a coupon-by-coupon basis, starting with the highest coupons in the April report.

    Further, FNMA will repurchase 220K loans in the April report, removing nearly all of the delinquent loans from .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Supplementary investor meetings introduced

    With official reporting rounds only occurring once a quarter around interest payment dates and the economic climate still in a state of uncertainty, Hatfield Philips International has introduced supplementary quarterly investor meetings. The firm says that the programme of investor meetings will provide in-depth, strategic insight into assets under management, as well as outline servicing challenges, strategies and issues arising .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • US manager ups CLO count

    Deerfield Capital (DFR) has increased its CLO AUM by 45% after acquiring Columbus Nova Credit Investment Management - a Charlotte-based investment manager specialising in leveraged loan credit products, with US$1.8bn AUM - from Bounty Investments, an investment vehicle managed by Renova US Management (Columbus Nova).

    The price paid by DFR includes US$25m of stock and deferred payments totalling US$7.5m of .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • UBS, Leipzig dispute CDO claims

    The German city of Leipzig is preparing to sue UBS over a €290m synthetic CDO contract entered into by a locally-owned water company, Kommunalen Wasserwerken Leipzig (KWL), and the bank. Leipzig refuses to pay €84m resulting from contracts between KWL and UBS because the city claims that the contracts were entered into by people who were not authorised to do .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • Proposed DWF extension sidesteps need to securitise

    The Bank of England (BoE) is seeking views on proposed changes to its liquidity insurance facilities for the banking system. One such proposal would include an extension of Discount Window Facility (DWF)-eligible collateral to include 'raw' portfolios of loans, thereby allowing banks to sidestep the securitisation process.

    Counterparties are currently able to temporarily exchange securitisations of loans they have originated .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Suit highlights put-back recovery uncertainty

    A New York Supreme Court ruling last week on a lawsuit brought by Syncora, CIFG and US Bank against Greenpoint Mortgage Funding has once again highlighted the legal uncertainty around disputed claims and the rights of different counterparties in a securitisation.

    Greenpoint had argued that neither the monolines nor the indenture trustee (US Bank) had the right to sue it. .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Tightening top end

    US CMBS market activity in the week to 18 March 2010

    Dramatic spread tightening this week on the US CMBS market's benchmark deal, GSMS 2007 - GG10, has many suggesting that investor confidence has returned to the top of the capital structure in this sector. However, concerns regarding the lower end of the stack remain.

    One CMBS trader observes: "There continues to be very robust trading in the CMBS market and .......

    Market Reports 24 March 2010

  • Bank seeks to rescind RMBS purchases

    The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has filed complaints in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, against nine securities dealers in relation to some of the bank's investments in private-label RMBS (PLRMBS). The bank is seeking to rescind its purchases of 134 securities in 113 securitisation trusts, for which it originally paid more than US$19.1bn. .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • CDS not meant for speculation - Trichet

    European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet on 19 March called for further improvements in CDS market transparency and the prioritisation of central counterparty facilities.

    "We need more transparency in CDS markets and so do investors," he said in his opening remarks at the Commission conference 'Building a crisis management framework for the internal market'.

    Trichet also commented that certain financial .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Positive signs

    European ABS market activity in the week to 23 March

    European ABS over the past week has begun to show positive signs of stabilisation and growth, with some claiming that a spring awakening may be underway in the sector. This is evident in both the diversification of recent BWIC bidding and the positive reception for both the recent Volkswagen and NIBC deals (see also separate News story).

    One portfolio manager .......

    Market Reports 24 March 2010

  • Realpoint acquired

    Morningstar is to acquire CMBS rating agency Realpoint. The NRSRO is being purchased for US$52m, subject to post-closing adjustments, including approximately US$42m in cash and US$10m in restricted stock.

    Realpoint had revenue of approximately US$12m in 2009. Morningstar expects to complete the transaction in the next few months.

    "We believe there's strong demand for unbiased ratings and research in the .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • CRE concentrations warrant 'special attention'

    In a speech before the annual convention of the Independent Community Bankers of America, US Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said that the recent surge in community bank failures raises difficult questions for policymakers and that commercial real estate concentrations warrant special attention.

    "Given what we know, I think we need to revisit the issue of the appropriate regulatory .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • CRE advisory appointment follows alliance

    CRE financing advisory firm BSC Group has appointed Noel Cain as a vp. His role will be to help support the company's recently formed alliance with 1st Service Solutions, a Dallas-based loan restructuring organisation.

    Cain's previous experience is in underwriting, cashflow modelling, due diligence and site analysis, and he will advise BSC clients on debt and equity financing and loan .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • Strategy shift

    Managers look to relative value opportunities as sov risk prevails

    Credit managers are adapting to the new environment in which sovereign risk is king. Many managers have begun to reduce or hedge credit and duration exposure to sovereigns with heightened downgrade or default risk, while the use of relative value strategies exploiting mispricing opportunities emerging between countries and regions are expected to take centre stage.

    "The pollution of public sector .......

    News Analysis 24 March 2010

  • ELCDS auction scheduled

    Creditex and Markit have announced that the ELCDS credit event auction for McCarthy & Stone will be held on 15 April.

    .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Principia and Lewtan team up

    Lewtan's ABSNet performance data, which covers over 20,000 global structured finance deals, can now be accessed via the Principia Structured Finance Platform (Principia SFP). Investors using Principia SFP and ABSNet will be able to load and refresh data from the ABSNet deal portal and efficiently reference Lewtan deal performance data - alongside their own proprietary sources of deal or loan-level .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010

  • No surprises in February non-agency performance data

    The latest non-agency RMBS performance data shows that both prepayments and defaults decreased in February, while severities were roughly flat. But the proportion of short sales among total liquidations increased from January, for prime and subprime collateral.

    Delinquencies in the 90+ bucket continued to rise rapidly, while the rest of the buckets were stable. Overall, 60+ delinquencies are at 46% .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2010

  • Bank beefs up in Connecticut

    UBS has made a series of recent hires to its Stamford, Connecticut office, including a new head of global structuring for securities distribution and a trio of Deutsche Bank credit traders.

    Matt Zola has been hired to run global structuring within securities distribution. He will be responsible for the equities and FICC structuring teams, and will also join the bank's .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2010
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