Complete news archive

  • US$1bn servicer acquisition announced

    Starwood Property Trust and Starwood Capital Group have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire LNR Property for US$1.05bn in cash. The acquisition is expected to close during 2Q13 and will significantly expand Starwood Property Trust's product offerings and underwriting capabilities.

    For US$856m, Starwood Property Trust will acquire: LNR's US special servicing business, which is the biggest in the country; .......

    Job Swaps 25 January 2013

  • Freddie K underwriting eyed

    Citi CMBS analysts have highlighted two concerning trends that are emerging in the Freddie Mac K-Deal CMBS space: the appearance of very low debt yields and increasing interest-only loan exposure across deals.

    "While lower debt yields should be a warning bell for investors across the structure, more IO loans could impact various bondholders differently," they explain. "IO loans typically have .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2013

  • Consumer ABS tiering emerging

    The new issue US ABS market has sprung to life over the past two weeks, posting volumes of US$10.8bn across 12 transactions. ABS analysts at Wells Fargo suggest that this collection of deals offers a useful case study for gauging relative value.

    Based on spreads observed for deals placed so far in 2013, the Wells Fargo analysts identify value in .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2013

  • CBO on the block

    An auction has been scheduled for 13 February for Trainer Wortham First Republic CBO III. The collateral will only be sold if the sale proceeds are greater than or equal to the auction call redemption amount.

    .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2013

  • ARC taps CRE pros

    American Realty Capital (ARC) has recruited Donald MacKinnon and Nicholas Radesca as senior managers in its debt capital markets and corporate finance team.

    MacKinnon brings to the company over 20 years of experience, having previously served as a portfolio manager of high yield credit-sensitive commercial real estate debt products for a real estate advisory company and as an md at .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2013

  • Appleby adds CLO vet

    Appleby has added Ian Gobin to its Cayman practice, further strengthening its global funds and finance teams. He will also reinforce the CLO team, reporting to global head of structured finance Julian Black.

    Gobin joins as partner and was most recently at Walkers, where he spent 11 years and specialised in asset finance, structured finance and secured lending. He trained .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2013

  • Covered bond ratings to remain under pressure?

    Reduced issuance costs and a spike in maturing bonds could keep 2013 issuance of covered bonds broadly in line with the 2012 figure, according to S&P. However, lower sovereign and bank creditworthiness mean that some covered bond ratings may remain under pressure.

    While most issuers continue to maintain overcollateralisation levels that are sufficient to maintain the ratings on their programmes, .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2013

  • Nephila gains new partner

    KKR has acquired a 24.9% interest in Nephila Capital. Shares will be acquired pro rata from Nephila management and from Nephila's minority stakeholder Man Group, which will retain an 18.75% interest in the firm.

    Nephila was established in 1998 as part of Willis, at the time a KKR portfolio company. The firm invests in reinsurance risk, including insurance-linked securities, catastrophe .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2013

  • Legacy CMBS windfall could be repeated

    What was originally the triple-B class in BSCMS 2007-PW18 has received an interest payment that exceeded the principal balance by nearly four times. CMBS analysts at Deutsche Bank believe that such windfalls could become more common this year as loans transition through the workout process.

    The bond had an original balance of US$18.8m and carried a coupon of 6.17%. It .......

    News 24 January 2013

  • The big picture

    Christopher Long, president at Palmer Square Capital Management, answers SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did Palmer Square Capital Management become involved in the structured finance markets?
    A:     Palmer Square was really set up in 2009 to take advantage of opportunities within credit, allowing us to exploit many opportunities within structured credit. Fountain Capital Management, which we recently acquired a majority interest in (SCI 9 January), has .......

    The Structured Credit Interview 24 January 2013

  • Further SF promotions for law firm

    Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has announced a raft of promotions, including five new special counsels. The firm announced three new structured finance partners last month (SCI 24 December 2012).

    Nathan Bull becomes special counsel in the litigation team in New York. He concentrates his practice on securities and commercial litigations, specialising in complex financial instruments and structured products.

    Sophie Cuthbertson .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2013

  • AMs, AJs dominate varied CMBS session

    US CMBS secondary volume was up yesterday. AM and AJ tranches dominated the session, although there was a mix right down the stack to E and F classes.

    SCI's PriceABS data displays 91 US CMBS line items from the session, with vintages from 2004 to 2013 cropping up. BWIC volume was estimated to stand at just under US$500m.

    Market Reports 23 January 2013

  • Fall in bankruptcies bodes well for performance

    Personal bankruptcies in the US fell by over 14% last year, exceeding Fitch's forecast of 11%. This marked the second annual decline since the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was passed in 2005.

    Fitch projects bankruptcies to fall by another 6%-7% in 2013. This comes as the amount of consumer credit continues to rise.

    Total consumer credit reached .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • Tobacco bonds on review

    Moody's has placed under review with direction uncertain a number of term tobacco settlement revenue bonds. The transactions are securitisations of payments that major tobacco manufacturers owe to 46 states and certain territories, pursuant to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

    The rating actions are a result of credit implications of the proposed agreement announced on 18 December 2012, to .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • Permacap completes fund raise

    Greenwich Loan Income Fund has placed 11,917,000 new ordinary shares at a price of 50p per share to raise gross proceeds of £6m. Arranged by Panmure Gordon, the placing represents 10% of the company's issued ordinary share capital.

    The net proceeds, together with other capital available for investment, are expected to be used to fund the equity element of future .......

    Job Swaps 23 January 2013

  • Adding value

    Noteholder disputes, counterparty downgrades and pricing for amendments discussed

    Representatives from leading corporate trust service providers met with SCI in December to discuss trustee independence and the flexibility of corporate trust services. Noteholder disputes, counterparty downgrades and pricing for restructurings and amendments were at the forefront of their minds. (The full SCI Corporate Trust Roundtable discussion can be downloaded here.)

    Corinne Smith, SCI: Beginning with flexibility of .......

    News Analysis 23 January 2013

  • Mortgage market index debuts

    Fitch has begun publishing a new quarterly mortgage market index, which measures the percentage of loans that are seriously delinquent among US private label securitised mortgage loans. The aim is to highlight performance trends in legacy and new issue RMBS, house price conditions and mortgage market developments.

    Fitch's 60+ day delinquency index improved to 28.6% by end-4Q12, compared with 30.6% .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • CMBS pay-offs analysed

    About 72% of the universe of US conduit CMBS loans that were due to pay off in 2012 and were still outstanding as of July 2011 paid off last year, according to Trepp. Of that number, 37% paid off in the six months prior to maturity, 19% paid off on the balloon date, 9% paid after the maturity date and .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • Regulatory change could spur Aussie issuance

    Regulatory changes could have a significant impact on Australian structured finance issuance in 2013, Fitch says. Specifically, the potential revision of Prudential Standard APS120 would have a direct impact on issuance levels by determining the capital treatment of securitisations and potentially opening up new issuance structures.

    A draft paper on APS120 is expected early this year. The possible changes mooted .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • CRA work plan released

    The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its '2013 CRA Supervision and Policy Work Plan', which sets out the key elements of its supervisory programme for the 19 registered and one certified credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the EU. The aim is to embed good practices internally at CRAs and to ensure that they meet the requirements of .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • False ratings claims case settled

    Egan-Jones Ratings Company (EJR) and its president Sean Egan have agreed to settle charges which were brought by the US SEC last year (SCI 25 April 2012), without accepting or denying the claims. The SEC claimed EJR and Egan made wilful misstatements and omissions when registering to become an NRSRO for ABS.

    EJR and Egan have consented to an SEC .......

    Job Swaps 23 January 2013
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