Complete news archive

  • February liquidations hit

    April US CMBS remittances indicate that five loans totalling US$77.6m in balance have been liquidated from the MLCFC 2007-7 trust. The loans were previously listed for sale on Auction.com in February (SCI 4 February) and, together with an additional two properties from the US$15.5m Norcross Industrial Portfolio, generated US$62.2m in proceeds. This compares with a combined appraisal value of US$63.2m.

    News Round-up 15 April 2015

  • Growing appetite

    US managers targeting CLO-hungry Europeans

    US CLO managers are tapping strong demand from European investors for CRR-compliant paper. The originator route appears to be the most accessible structuring route for now.

    "So far nine US CLOs have been issued in compliance with European risk retention requirements in 2015, with at least 20 in total dating back to 2013," says Rondeep Barua, a research analyst at .......

    News Analysis 15 April 2015

  • US CLO lull continues

    The lull in US CLO secondary market activity is continuing despite the small increase in the BWIC calendar today.

    "It's still very much a continuation of last week," says one trader. "There are a few lists today, but it's still very quiet - nothing has materially picked up."

    The trader suggests there are no significant reasons for the lull in activity. .......

    SCIWire 14 April 2015

  • CMBS defaults at six-year low

    Fitch says that new US CMBS defaults continued a trend of declines, with the annual default rate falling to 0.6% in 2014 from 0.9% in 2013, a level not seen since 2008. The agency projects new CMBS term defaults to hold steady this year, with the cumulative CMBS default rate - currently at 13.3% - to decline slightly in 2015.

    News Round-up 14 April 2015

  • Countrywide settlement nears completion

    BNY Mellon has presented the US$8.5bn Countrywide settlement agreement to the New York Supreme Court for final approval. The bank is seeking a modification of the language in the February 2014 judgment to bring it in line with last month's appellate division ruling (SCI 6 March), specifically by deleting any language regarding withholding the release of modification claims.

    If the .......

    News Round-up 14 April 2015

  • Derivatives partner named

    Ashurst has promoted Jasmine Tiw to partner in its securities and derivatives practice. She was previously a senior associate at the firm, covering OTC trades and securitised issuances under structured product programmes.

    Prior to Ashurst, Tiw worked in Credit Suisse's structured capital markets team. She also previously worked in Deutsche Bank's securitised products group.

    .......

    Job Swaps 14 April 2015

  • Lending platform recruits risk chief

    CommonBond has hired Vinayak Gurjar as chief risk officer. He will be responsible for overseeing the firm's risk management strategy and underwriting guidelines.

    Prior to joining CommonBond, Gurjar was global head of governance in treasury capital markets at Citi, where he led authorisation for issuance of third-party debt, including securitisation. Previous to this, he was a director at S&P, rating .......

    Job Swaps 14 April 2015

  • RFC issued on agency removal option

    Fitch is seeking comments as to whether triple-A ratings should be achievable where rating agency removal language (RRL) is present and the rating opinion depends on related contractual provisions being followed. RRL allows an issuer or sponsor to remove a rating agency and all contractual provisions relating to that agency from documentation without the explicit consent of bondholders.

    Fitch believes .......

    News Round-up 14 April 2015

  • Walgreens lease expiries eyed

    Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to close 200 drugstores in the US, under a US$500m cost-cutting measure. The retailer is believed to be a tenant in 401 properties encumbered by 249 CMBS 2.0 loans with an allocated balance of US$1.5bn across 105 deals.

    US$383m of the exposure is concentrated in 2013-vintage deals and US$378m in 2015-vintage deals, according to Morgan Stanley .......

    News Round-up 14 April 2015

  • Sears JV exposure gauged

    Sears is set to form another real estate joint venture, with Simon Property Group (SCI 7 April), involving 10 properties valued at US$228m. Under the transaction, the retailer will receive US$114m and a 50% interest in the JV, while SPG will contribute US$114m in cash for its 50% interest and separately agreed to acquire a Sears property at the La .......

    News Round-up 14 April 2015

  • Euro ABS/MBS static

    The European ABS/MBS secondary market remains quiet but well-supported.

    "Secondary ABS/MBS is still static and very quiet post-Easter," says one trader. "Levels are pretty much unchanged and despite the Street feeling long they appear well-supported."

    The primary market is also dragging attention away from secondary trading. "There is a lot of investor interest focused on new issues including the latest .......

    SCIWire 14 April 2015

  • SCI Start the Week - 13 April

    A look at the major activity in structured finance over the past seven days

    Pipeline
    Several deals were added to the pipeline last week as the market started up again after the Easter break. These included seven ABS, three ILS and three CMBS.

    The ABS were: €455m Alba 7; US$554.45m ARI Fleet Lease Trust 2015-A; US$1bn Dell Equipment Finance Trust 2015-1; US$223.64m First Investors Auto Owner Trust 2015-1; US$1.169bn Hyundai Auto Lease Securitization .......

    News 13 April 2015

  • Flicker of life in US CDO/CLO BWICs

    The US CDO/CLO BWIC calendar is flickering into life for tomorrow.

    After a relatively quiet week last week it's another quiet day on- and off-BWIC in the US CLO/CDO secondary market today. However, a small BWIC pipeline is gradually building for tomorrow, albeit with little visible after that for the remainder of the week.

    There are currently four BWICs on .......

    SCIWire 13 April 2015

  • Analytics effort strengthened

    Vichara Technologies has hired Keith Weintraub as md, based in its Hoboken office in New Jersey. Weintraub previously worked at Citi, where he was director of the derivatives research and analytics teams, as well as a trader on the bank's New York and London trading desks. He also developed risk management systems for prime brokerage at Deutsche Bank.

    .......

    Job Swaps 13 April 2015

  • MSR sale due

    JPMorgan plans to transfer 4,138 loans from 12 US RMBS transactions to Select Portfolio Servicing (SPS) by way of a mortgage servicing rights sale. Moody's says that the transfer will not result in a reduction or withdrawal of the current ratings on the securities.

    The 12 affected transactions are: Aegis ABS Trust 2004-4; ABFC Asset-Backed Certificates Series 2006-HE1; Citigroup Mortgage .......

    News Round-up 13 April 2015

  • CMBS pay-offs fluctuating

    Trepp says the percentage of US CMBS loans paying off on their balloon date increased in March to 64.8% from the February rate of 59.5%. The March rate is slightly below the 12-month moving average of 65.4%. The highest rate in the last five years was in November 2013, when pay-offs totalled 81.3%.

    By loan count as opposed to balance, .......

    News Round-up 13 April 2015

  • Non-sponsor lending head hired

    Andrew Frank has joined Cerberus Capital Management as md. He will be primarily responsible for non-sponsor backed lending, as well as creating and managing partnerships with other lending institutions, intermediaries and advisory firms.

    Prior to joining Cerberus, Frank was md and head of syndication for all debt capital markets activity at Stifel Nicolaus. Previous to this, he worked at Merrill .......

    Job Swaps 13 April 2015

  • Regional bank settlement agreed

    First Tennessee, the regional bank for First Horizon National, has agreed in principle with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Department of Justice to settle claims related to the bank's underwriting and origination of FHA-insured mortgage loans from 1 January 2006 through to 31 December 2008. Under the agreement, First Tennessee has committed to pay .......

    News Round-up 13 April 2015

  • CDO manager swapped

    Chotin Fund Management has resigned from its role as the collateral manager for Mercury CDO 2004-1 and designated Dock Street Capital Management as its replacement. Fitch says that terms of the proposed replacement collateral manager agreement have remained almost identical, with only minor differences that are not material to the ratings of the transaction.

    For other recent CDO manager transfers, .......

    Job Swaps 13 April 2015

  • ILS diversification predicted

    ILS market participants expect a further diversification away from traditional catastrophe bonds, with a particular focus on new perils in emerging markets and collateralised reinsurance, according to Clear Path Analysis' latest report on the sector. This prediction follows a record year for annual property cat bond issuance, with a total of US$8bn of limit placed.

    Total catastrophe bonds on-risk stood .......

    News Round-up 13 April 2015

  • Euro secondary stays slow

    The light BWIC volumes seen in European securitisation markets throughout the much of the Easter holidays look set to continue into today.

    It was a quiet day on- and off-BWIC on Friday with spreads for the most part unchanged and a similar pattern appears to be forming at today's open. CLOs, Dutch and UK prime continue to garner the most .......

    SCIWire 13 April 2015
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