Complete news archive

  • BNP adds to ABS expertise

    BNP Paribas has brought in Alex Nixon as vp in investment banking, focusing on non-flow ABS. He joins the bank from KGS-Alpha Capital Markets. Nixon has also held a number of roles at Ascent Biomedical Venutres and Ernst & Young.

    .......

    Job Swaps 24 December 2015

  • SEC hands out 'parking' fines

    Morgan Stanley has settled US SEC charges that one of its portfolio managers unlawfully conducted pre-arranged trading known as parking. Both the portfolio manager and a trader at SG Americas that assisted her have agreed to be barred from the industry and pay penalties in the settlement.

    Morgan Stanley will pay US$8.8m, while SG Americas will pay US$1m. Morgan Stanley portfolio .......

    Job Swaps 24 December 2015

  • PREPA deal reached

    PREPA has finally reached an agreement with bond insurance subsidiaries of Assured Guaranty over a financial restructuring plan. The agreement will provide a framework for resolving the treatment of holders of insured PREPA revenue bonds, as well as supplying bridge financing for PREPA's interest payment on 1 January 2016.

    Assured Guaranty's proportionate share of the PREPA bridge financing is approximately US$15m. .......

    News Round-up 24 December 2015

  • Volcker amendments agreed

    An extraordinary resolution has been passed by St Paul's CLO II noteholders that amends the investment management agreement to comply with the Volcker Rule. Under the amendments, noteholders have the option to hold notes with different voting rights in respect of resolutions to remove or replace the CLO manager. This involves splitting each class of rated notes into three separate .......

    News Round-up 24 December 2015

  • P2P deal expands asset class

    A second OnDeck Capital securitisation is in the market, but this time the online lender is acting as servicer, not sponsor. That role is being taken by Jefferies Asset Funding, which is sponsoring a rated marketplace lending ABS for the first time.

    The US$143.646m MarketPlace Loan Trust Series 2015-OD4 comprises a US$128.525m A class and a US$15.121m B class. The class A .......

    News Round-up 23 December 2015

  • Recruitment shift

    SF hiring zoning in on peripheral space

    The recruitment outlook in structured finance remains subdued as regulation maintains its stranglehold in Europe and the US. However, peripheral players are keeping the market ticking over by testing the securitisation waters.

    "There has been some activity going on in the traditional structure finance space; for example, on the rating agency side," says one London-based headhunter. "Some agencies have been .......

    News Analysis 23 December 2015

  • US, Euro CLO BWIC activity up

    CLO BWIC volumes grew significantly in the US this year, while also rising modestly in Europe. US CLO BWIC volume for 2015 has been 50% higher than the previous year, while European BWIC volumes grew 6% to reach a new high.

    By original notional rather than amount traded, US CLO BWIC volume has reached US$35.51bn this year, according to JPMorgan .......

    News 23 December 2015

  • TICC sale hits roadblock

    The agreement for Benefit Street Partners (BSP) to acquire TICC Capital (SCI 7 December) failed to reach the required votes by company stockholders at the TICC special meeting held yesterday. Although the proposed transaction received over 50% support of shares at the meeting, the total support only accumulated to 36% of all outstanding TICC shares.

    As a result, TICC will continue to .......

    Job Swaps 23 December 2015

  • Guggenheim adds origination vet

    Guggenheim Securities has appointed Diane Rinnovatore as a senior md in its structured products origination business. She reunites with Cory Wishengrad, head of structured products and former colleague at both Lehman Brothers and Barclays.

    Rinnovatore joins Guggenheim from Star Mountain Capital. She was previously co-head of securitised products origination for the Americas and head of US bank DCM at Barclays, as .......

    Job Swaps 23 December 2015

  • Credit assessment recommendations issued

    IOSCO has released its final report on 'Sound Practices at Large Intermediaries Relating to the Assessment of Creditworthiness and the Use of External Credit Ratings'. The report recommends 12 sound practices that regulators could consider as part of their oversight of market intermediaries in relation to suitable alternatives to credit ratings. The aim is to reduce the overreliance on credit .......

    News Round-up 23 December 2015

  • CMBX rule updates expected

    The Markit CMBX.9 index is expected to launch on 25 January 2016. Similar to the previous CMBX series (SCI 16 December 2014), CMBX.9 will likely include some modifications to the index rules to accommodate new trends seen in conduit deals in 2015.

    Morgan Stanley CMBS strategists highlight three notable CMBX index rule amendments for CMBX.9, the outcomes of which depend .......

    News Round-up 23 December 2015

  • Citi settlement approved

    Justice Marcy Friedman last week approved the US$1.125bn Citi RMBS settlement. It had been hoped that her approval would be issued before end-2015, given the complete absence of objectors to the agreement. However, the trustees now need to receive a ruling from the IRS before cash can be distributed.

    To get a sense of timing, Morgan Stanley RMBS analysts note .......

    Job Swaps 23 December 2015

  • Alarm bells

    Fund liquidations bring echoes of 2007

    With year-end rapidly approaching, high yield credit was thrown into a loop by a quick-fire succession of announcements from Lucidus Capital Partners, Third Avenue Management and Stone Lion Capital Partners. Redemption suspensions and portfolio liquidations at the funds are sparking fears of a 2007 re-run.

    Lucidus announced last week that it had liquidated its entire portfolio, with the intention of .......

    News Analysis 23 December 2015

  • Electra anchors CLO

    Electra Partners has invested £13m in a new CLO managed by Blackstone/GSO Debt Funds Management Europe - an affiliate of GSO Capital Partners. The transaction is Tymon Park, a €414m CLO that invests in leveraged loans issued by predominantly private equity-backed companies in the US and Europe.

    The CLO has a 13-year life and is invested in more than 80 .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2015

  • Utility tariff criteria updated

    Fitch has updated the asset-backed sector of its criteria for rating US utility tariff bonds, outlining the unique features of a tariff bond relative to a traditional ABS. Most notably, tariff bonds are compared by the agency for their characteristics as intangible, future-flow regulatory assets. The criteria also references the special protections available to holders of tariff bonds that qualify for achievement of .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2015

  • Bank derivatives exposure increases

    Insured US commercial banks and savings associations reported trading revenue of US$5.3bn in 3Q15, a drop of US$200m - 4% - from 2Q15 (SCI 22 September), reports the OCC. Trading revenue was US$300m lower than 3Q14.

    Credit exposures from derivatives rose sharply in the third quarter. Net current credit exposure increased by US$39bn to US$445bn.

    "Concerns about weakness in the .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2015

  • Class A share added to fund

    Semper Capital Management has added a class A share to its Semper MBS Total Return Fund. Class A shares are retail shares that are charged a front-end sales load of up to 2%.

    The shares are charged a 0.25% Rule 12b-1 distribution and servicing fee, but do not have a contingent deferred sales charge. However, redemptions within 18 months of purchase of .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2015

  • RMBS, CLO fraud admitted

    A former co-head of US ABS, RMBS and CMBS trading at RBS Securities has waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to participating in a multimillion dollar securities fraud scheme. Adam Siegel admitted that he and colleagues conspired to increase RBS's profits on CLO and RMBS trades at the expense of customers.

    Siegel held the role at RBS from .......

    Job Swaps 22 December 2015

  • Everbank servicing rights sold

    Everbank has sold the servicing rights of 4,682 loans in ten Alt-A RMBS transactions to Nationstar Mortgage. The transfer is scheduled to go ahead on 1 February 2016.

    The affected transactions are: Homestar Mortgage Acceptance Corp Asset Backed Pass-Through Certificates 2004-1, 2004-2, 2004-3, 2004-4 and 2004-6; and Opteum Mortgage Acceptance Corp Asset Backed Pass-Through Certificates 2005-1, 2005-2, 2005-3, 2005-4 and 2005-5.

    News Round-up 22 December 2015

  • Software firm acquired

    CoreLogic is set buy software firm FNC for US$475m. The agreement will see it inherit FNC's provider services in real estate collateral information technology and solutions.

    CoreLogic's Valuation Solutions Group (VSG) will act as the conduit to deploy a broader suite of property valuation capabilities following the merger of the two firms. Following the close of the transaction, FNC operations will be .......

    Job Swaps 22 December 2015

  • Freddie sells NPLs to non-profit

    Freddie Mac has sold via auction 103 deeply delinquent NPLs serviced by Wells Fargo from its mortgage investment portfolio. The US$18.4m pool of loans was sold to Community Loan Fund of New Jersey.

    The transaction is expected to settle in February 2016, after which servicing will be transferred. The loans have been delinquent for an average of approximately three years .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2015
×