Complete news archive

  • Insurance trio recruited

    Twelve Capital has made a trio of hirings to enhance its insurance debt and ILS portfolio services. The hires include Ulrich Beck, who will be responsible for sourcing within the firm's insurance private debt team.

    Beck arrives from KPMG's corporate finance team, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, as well as strategic and transformational advisory. He was also involved in capital markets .......

    Job Swaps 5 June 2015

  • Theatre Hospitals restructuring closes

    The long running Theatre Hospitals CMBS restructuring closed on 28 May. This was confirmed in an announcement from law firm Paul Hastings, who represented Capita Asset Services in connection with the restructuring of the £1.65bn loan financing, which included a restructuring of the existing swap positions with an approximate value of £600m.

    Capita acted as servicer of the £960m senior loans, held .......

    News Round-up 5 June 2015

  • B-piece stripping risks examined

    The practice of B-piece coupon stripping increases the risk of interest shortfalls and credit losses in investment grade classes of US conduit CMBS, reports Moody's. This is particularly due to the slippage in CMBS collateral quality over the past two years.

    B-piece coupon stripping reduces the fixed coupon payment of below investment grade securitised principal and interest bonds and allocates this payment .......

    News Round-up 5 June 2015

  • Portfolio advisor moves on

    Adrian Chopin has joined Orchard Global Asset Management, where he has been tasked with building a new business line in law firm and litigation funding, as well as assisting the development of the firm's existing structured credit platforms. He joins as a member of Orchard's senior portfolio management team, reporting to Gary Wee, chairman and cio.

    Chopin arrives from Deutsche Bank where .......

    Job Swaps 5 June 2015

  • Reinsurer adds ILS expertise

    Essent Group has recruited Joseph Hissong to serve as president of its Bermuda reinsurance company, Essent Reinsurance. In addition, Paul Wollmann has been promoted to chief underwriting officer for the subsidiary.

    Prior to joining Essent, Hissong's most recent position was as executive director with ILS manager Cartesian Re. Previous to this, he was the executive director and head of private .......

    Job Swaps 5 June 2015

  • Investment head tapped

    Invictus Capital Partners has hired Carl Bell as md and co-head of investments. In this role, Bell will focus on the analysis and management of credit assets identified from consumer, real estate and corporate obligations.

    Most recently, Bell was deputy cio and head of securitised credit for Amundi Smith Breeden. Previous to this, he was co-founder of Five Ten Capital, .......

    Job Swaps 5 June 2015

  • CLO compression trades touted

    US CLO triple-A tranches are lagging the spread compression in the CLO credit curve as the loan market increasingly trades above par, creating fundamental value. However, JPMorgan CLO analysts point to the trade-off of carry versus convexity as prices rise.

    "High coupon triple-As - such as new issue or 2.0 - could be a more defensive play, with more price protection in a spread widening environment, all .......

    News 4 June 2015

  • EXOR files lawsuit

    EXOR has filed a definitive proxy statement with the US SEC in opposition to the proposed merger transaction between AXIS Capital and PartnerRe. This enables EXOR to communicate directly with PartnerRe shareholders regarding its all-cash binding offer of US$137.5 per share for PartnerRe and to solicit them to vote against the AXIS transaction.

    A lawsuit has also been filed by .......

    Job Swaps 4 June 2015

  • Auto ABS recoveries divided

    Moody's assumes that European auto ABS presents higher recovery rates in its core markets compared to those markets in the periphery. A key determinant in the agency's recovery rate assumptions is the security interest in the underlying vehicle that vests with the issuer, which happens to vary in European markets.

    In the main auto ABS markets, such as Germany, the UK and France, .......

    News Round-up 4 June 2015

  • SF practice beefed up

    Shearman & Sterling has hired Charles Thompson as counsel in its structured finance group. His practice focuses on corporate and financial matters, with a particular emphasis on structured finance and capital markets derivatives products.

    Thompson joins from Cleary Gottlieb and previously worked as primary coverage lawyer for the structured products group at Morgan Stanley. His experience includes representing investors and .......

    Job Swaps 4 June 2015

  • Split liability for WaMu claim

    The judge overseeing the Washington Mutual rep and warranty case yesterday ruled that JPMorgan will be liable only to the extent the liabilities were on the books of WaMu as of 25 September 2008. The exception to this is liabilities for the entity Washington Mutual Mortgage Securities Corporation (WMMSC), which will travel to JPMorgan. The remaining rep and warranty liabilities .......

    News 4 June 2015

  • OTC margin tool updated

    AcadiaSoft has launched MarginSphere 2, the latest version of its electronic margining platform for OTC derivatives. The tool is specifically designed to help buy-side and sell-side firms comply with the new regulatory standards for non-centrally cleared derivatives that will take effect in 2016.

    MarginSphere 2 will attempt to tackle a potential surge in margin volumes from impending regulations by providing a clear audit trail and .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • CDO manager exchanged

    Dock Street Capital Management has taken over Delaware Investment Advisors' role as collateral manager to Longport Funding II. Under the provisions of an amended and restated collateral management agreement, Moody's says there will be no adverse action with respect to any of its current ratings for the transaction.

    For other recent CDO manager transfers, see SCI's CDO manager transfer Job Swaps 3 June 2015

  • Granite short-term ratings withdrawn

    Fitch has withdrawn its short-term F1 ratings on three Granite Master Issuer bonds, following the termination of conditional purchaser agreements for the notes. The affected tranches were structured to be issued on an annual revolving basis.

    The tranches are: Granite Master Issuer Series 2006-1 class A1, Series 2006-3 class A4 and Series 2007-2 class 4A1. Unless noteholders exercised their right .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • RMBS reporting improvements urged

    Increased consistency in performance data reporting across European jurisdictions would improve transparency and comparability in RMBS, suggests Moody's. The agency notes that focus on the standardisation of European securitisation remains high, while all policy initiatives include measures that aim to increase disclosure requirements.

    "The ECB and Bank of England's standardisation initiatives have improved the information available to investors," observes Moody's vp .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • Bridge loan partnership formed

    Thorofare Capital and DoubleLine Capital have formed a partnership under which  the former will originate, underwrite and service middle-market CRE bridge loans to be purchased for clients whose accounts are managed under the DoubleLine Opportunistic CRE Debt Strategy. Thorofare will serve as the exclusive originator for the loans within a range of underwriting criteria mutually defined by both companies.

    The programme will fund senior whole .......

    Job Swaps 3 June 2015

  • Asset finance pro rejoins bank

    Credit Suisse has rehired Vaibhav Piplapure as md to run its European asset finance business. He joins the bank after working in asset management for KKR. Prior to this, Piplapure was head of structured and illiquid credit at Avoca Capital, as well as head of global credit solutions and European asset finance for Credit Suisse in his first stint at the .......

    Job Swaps 3 June 2015

  • CLO indicators remain sound

    Moody's has published an inaugural report that aims to provide a 360-degree view of the US CLO market and its 1Q15 performance by analysing macroeconomic and financial market conditions, high yield corporate sector trends and credit conditions that correlate with credit quality. The report forms part of a new framework for tracking the aggregate performance of US CLOs and assessing whether .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • Eurosail losses curbed

    Moody's reports that in five UK non-conforming RMBS deals where Lehman Brothers Special Financing acted as the currency swap counterparty, the recovery proceeds from the claims on defaulted currency swaps and the sale of the remaining claims were sufficient to restructure the transactions and limit noteholder losses. The transactions that were exposed to currency exchange rate risks after Lehman Brothers .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • US CMBS loss severities drop

    The weighted average loss severity of US CMBS loans liquidated at a loss dropped to 24.5% in 1Q15 from 50.8% in 4Q14, according to Moody's. This is largely due to the liquidation of four large loans with disposition balances higher than US$100m for loss severities of less than 1.5%.

    "Loss severities actually decrease the larger the size of the loan .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015

  • 'Unique' SME CLO touted

    GIAC Gestion's recent cashflow CLO is an example of a viable way forward for European SME CLOs in the context of increased bank disintermediation in Europe, suggests Moody's. GIAC OLT II is backed by bonds issued by French SMEs and mid-caps.

    "GIAC OLT II illustrates how securitisation can finance SMEs and mid-caps without the direct involvement of an originating bank .......

    News Round-up 3 June 2015
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