Complete news archive

  • CRE vet hired

    John Scheurer has joined American Capital as md and cio for its CRE group, where he will be responsible for developing a CRE platform alongside md Doug Cooper and the existing CRE group. American Capital may fund its CRE investments by incubating a commercial mortgage REIT, which it would manage.

    Prior to joining American Capital, Scheurer was president and ceo .......

    Job Swaps 5 March 2015

  • Euro secondary ticks over

    European secondary markets are quiet, but activity is still ticking over.

    "Secondary is reasonably quiet, but we are getting stuff done particularly around peripherals and non-conforming plus a little in CLOs," says one trader. "There's not much on BWICs again today, though there are some RMAC equity residuals later in the day, which might be quite interesting."

    The drop-off in .......

    SCIWire 5 March 2015

  • US CMBS tightens

    US non-agency CMBS spreads are edging tighter this week.

    "It's already been a pretty heavy primary and BWIC schedule this week," says one trader. "On the back of that and continuing positive market tone spreads are grinding a little bit tighter."

    The trader continues: "BWICs this week have traded well, but nothing has really changed - the market focus is .......

    SCIWire 4 March 2015

  • CMBS delinquency rate plummeting

    The Trepp US CMBS delinquency rate has fallen for the fourth straight month and the twentieth time in the last two years. The delinquency rate now stands at 5.58%, down by 8bp for February and 120bp from a year ago.

    CMBS loans that were previously delinquent but paid off either at par or with a loss totalled about US$550m in .......

    News Round-up 4 March 2015

  • CMBS loss severity up

    Higher liquidations and losses from large 2007 vintage loans drove US CMBS loss severity to 49.1% in 2014 from 45.7% in 2013, says Moody's. Three loans in particular that are in the top-ten dollar losses to date pushed severities higher last year: World Market Center II, Solana and Hyatt Regency - Jacksonville (see SCI's CMBS loan events database). .......

    News Round-up 4 March 2015

  • Portfolio manager poached

    The International Finance Corporation has named Jean-Sebastien Paley as senior portfolio officer in London. He will oversee portfolio management in international ABS.

    Paley arrives from PIMCO, where he was an RMBS portfolio manager, covering Europe and Australia. He had previously been a structured product associate in the EMEA region for PIMCO, covering multiple asset classes. Paley has additionally held roles .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • Failed bank's assets acquired

    Triumph Capital Partners has acquired all the equity of Doral Money and certain related assets in connection with the FDIC auction process for Doral Bank. As a result, the firm has acquired the management contracts to two active CLOs consisting of approximately US$703m in AUM.

    The move brings Triumph Capital Advisors' outstanding AUM to approximately US$1.7bn. In addition to the .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • Start-up taps asset manager

    Sequant Re has added Lola Myshketa as evp to lead its capital raising and business development activities. Her appointment follows Sequant Re's launch in December (SCI 16 December 2014).

    Prior to joining Sequant, Myshketa was head of asset management for Bermuda Commercial Bank. She also held senior positions in the Canadian private financial sector, where she specialised in alternative investments. .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • Securitisation co-head promoted

    AXA Investment Managers has appointed Christophe Fritsch as head of structuring. He will retain his other responsibilities as co-head of securitisation and structured assets and business development.

    Fritsch will lead the structuring team in supporting the two investment streams within AXA IM's structured finance business: loans and private debt; and securitised and structured assets. The securitised and structured assets stream .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • ILS exec moves

    Maria Rapin has joined Nephila Advisors as business development director. In the role, she will focus on investor relations and general business development for the firm.

    Previously, Rapin worked as a portfolio manager for SCOR Global Investments, where she was responsible for portfolio construction and management in ILS. Prior to this, Rapin was vp for sales and distribution at Swiss .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • CLO fund holding sold

    A fund advised by Coller Capital has purchased for US$32.3m a 20% stake in Fair Oaks Income Fund that was previously held by GLI Finance, with the entire holding accumulating to 34,298,425 ordinary shares. As the fund's largest shareholder, Coller has entered into a lock-in agreement under which it has agreed not to directly or indirectly transfer the legal and/or .......

    Job Swaps 4 March 2015

  • Sears spin-off welcomed

    Sears provided further details in its 4Q14 earnings release of its plan to create a REIT consisting of 200-300 stores, many of which are likely to be Sears-owned anchor pads in high quality malls. Barclays Capital CMBS analysts suggest that the spin-off could be a positive for any affected CMBS properties, as it would secure Sears as a long-term anchor .......

    News Round-up 4 March 2015

  • Euro secondary sees pockets of activity

    European secondary is still quiet overall, but there are pockets of activity

    "It continues to be very quiet this week, but the few trades going through are trading quite high," says one trader. "We've seen Dutch RMBS print in the mid-teens, for example."

    Strong trading is currently mainly macro driven, the trader says. "The positive tone was helped by the .......

    SCIWire 4 March 2015

  • Repo eligibility tightening?

    The ECB last month published new guidelines on the implementation of the Eurosystem monetary policy, effective from 1 May. Several changes have been made to ABS repo eligibility, which appear to reflect a bias towards tightening of the criteria.

    The changes include the exclusion of ABS comprising receivables with residual value, with a four-month grandfathering period for bonds that will .......

    News 4 March 2015

  • US CLO rally continues

    US CLO secondary spreads are continuing to tighten on the back of healthy activity.

    "Everything in the cap stack from triple-B and above is tightening as it has over the past week or so and that's with decent February primary volume," says one trader. "Sellers are putting stuff out there confident it will go at decent levels and so far .......

    SCIWire 3 March 2015

  • Reinsurance merger finalised

    RenaissanceRe has completed the acquisition of Platinum Underwriters, making the firm a wholly owned subsidiary of RenaissanceRe. The acquisition was originally announced late last year (SCI 25 November 2014). The completion of the acquisition follows the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and approval of the transaction by Platinum shareholders, which was obtained at a special general meeting of Platinum .......

    Job Swaps 3 March 2015

  • Euro CLOs move target

    The recent large broad-based volumes seen in the European CLO secondary market have been replaced this week by a more targeted approach.

    "No one is focusing on generic runs, it's now about targeted offers," says one trader. "People want to see ideas and if you go out with them you will trade."

    In particular, interest surrounds specific European mezzanine tranches. .......

    SCIWire 3 March 2015

  • Portuguese arrears slow

    Fitch says the volume of defaulted Portuguese residential loans has reached a new high. However, the rate of increase has slowed and new arrears cases are at their lowest level for a decade.

    The agency believes there are signs that the fragile economic recovery and low interest rate environment are reducing the stress on the Portuguese mortgage market. The proportion .......

    News Round-up 3 March 2015

  • CLO recovery bands introduced

    S&P has introduced recovery bands - 'high' or 'low' - for recovery ratings on CLO loans in the '2' through '5' categories via its core ratings products to accommodate more granular recovery information. The move follows the agency's incorporation of additional recovery information into its analysis of CLO transactions (SCI 4 August 2014).

    The previous update included delineating whether the .......

    News Round-up 3 March 2015

  • UCITS fund prepped

    Advent Capital Management is set to launch in 2Q15 a new UCITS-regulated umbrella fund, which will include its Global Absolute Return Strategy. The fund marks the first alternatives product in Advent's UCITS offerings.

    The new UCITS fund will be asset class agnostic and optimally positioned to implement Advent's fundamental views under various market conditions. It will be co-managed by portfolio .......

    Job Swaps 3 March 2015

  • Fund expertise bolstered

    Lars Hunsche has joined AHP Capital Management as a partner. Hunsche arrives from Moody's Analytics, where he was a general manager and product specialist for CreditEdge, a tool used by the firm for credit risk assessment and default prediction. AHP says it will be shortly launching a long/short credit fund optimised for CreditEdge as a joint venture with a German .......

    Job Swaps 3 March 2015
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