Complete news archive

  • Reg cap pro hired

    Matthew Cahill is joining Sidley Austin in early November as a partner in its global finance practice. He focuses his practice in liability and capital management transactions, structured finance, restructurings and securitisation.

    Cahill is returning to London after practising as a structured finance and capital markets partner at Clifford Chance in its Abu Dhabi office, and previously in its London, .......

    Job Swaps 26 September 2012

  • CRE vet recruited

    United Realty Partners has named Barry Funt as president of United Realty Capital Markets, a real estate investment banking firm specialising in the full spectrum of real estate financing. He will work directly with United Realty's founders Jacob Frydman and Eli Verschleiser.

    Funt has more than 20 years' experience in execution, structuring, underwriting, pricing, placement and oversight in the commercial .......

    Job Swaps 26 September 2012

  • NCUA targets Barcap

    The NCUA has filed suit in Federal District Court in Kansas against Barclays Capital, alleging that the bank violated federal and state securities laws through misrepresentations in the sale of MBS to US Central Federal Credit Union and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union. The price paid for the securities by US Central and WesCorp exceeded US$555m.

    NCUA's complaint alleges that .......

    Job Swaps 26 September 2012

  • REIT debuts CLO

    Arbor Realty Trust has privately placed a US$125m CLO, becoming the first commercial mortgage REIT to tap the sector. Dubbed Arbor CLO 2012-1, the notes are secured by 18 whole loans and A-notes.

    An aggregate of US$87.5m of investment grade debt was issued under the transaction, with Arbor retaining the US$37.5m equity interest. The notes pay an initial weighted average .......

    News Round-up 25 September 2012

  • Brazilian home prices levelling off

    Spurred by sustained economic growth, explosive credit expansion and restricted supply of adequate housing, Brazilian homes prices have surged since 2008. However, the trend now appears to be ending as prices level off, according to Fitch.

    "From January 2008 to July 2012, real housing prices increased by 92% in Sao Paulo and 118% in Rio de Janeiro. But in recent .......

    News Round-up 25 September 2012

  • Reg cap tool released

    The US federal banking regulatory agencies have released a regulatory capital estimation tool to help community banking organisations and other interested parties evaluate recently published regulatory capital proposals. The tool is intended to help institutions estimate the potential effects on their capital ratios of the agencies' Basel 3 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) and standardised approach NPR. The public comment .......

    News Round-up 25 September 2012

  • No revision for GRAND proposal

    It has emerged that GRAND CMBS noteholders which were not part of the ad-hoc group involved in discussions with DAIG chose the REF note servicer as a separate conduit for providing comments on the restructuring proposal. The REF note servicer received comments from approximately 15% of noteholders expressing a desire for improvements to certain elements of the heads of terms.

    A .......

    News Round-up 25 September 2012

  • ABS syndicate strengthened

    Tristan Cheesman has joined JPMorgan's European securitised product group syndicate in London. He moves from Commerzbank and reports to James Crispin, head of ABS syndication at JPMorgan.

    .......

    Job Swaps 25 September 2012

  • Clayton taps CRE vet

    James Meleones has joined Clayton Holdings as senior md of commercial real estate services. In this position, he will be responsible for all aspects of the firm's CRE practice, including loan-level due diligence, loan and portfolio valuation and portfolio oversight and strategy. He will report directly to Paul Bossidy, president and ceo of Clayton.

    Meleones brings more than 30 years .......

    Job Swaps 25 September 2012

  • Research trio recruited

    Janus Capital Group has enhanced the fundamental research capabilities of its fixed income investment team with three new appointments.

    Jason Brooks has been named global securitised products analyst, a new position on the fixed income team. Prior to joining Janus, Brooks served as director of CMBS research at TIAA-CREF and in mortgage research roles at both TIAA-CREF and Gramercy Capital .......

    Job Swaps 25 September 2012

  • Bank derivatives holdings decrease

    Commercial banks and savings associations reported trading revenue of US$2bn in 2Q12, according to the OCC's Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities. This figure is 69% lower than that of 1Q12 and 73% lower than in 2Q11.

    "Trading revenues were weak in the second quarter," confirms Martin Pfinsgraff, deputy comptroller for credit and market risk. "While both normal .......

    News Round-up 25 September 2012

  • Near-prime focus

    The secondary European RMBS market began the week with Dutch near prime mezzanine tranches drawing traders' attention. SCI's PriceABS BWIC data shows that two lists in the sector traded yesterday and another is expected next week.

    The first list was a single-name BWIC for a €3.118m slice of EMFNL 2008-1X A2. The tranche was covered in the centre .......

    Market Reports 25 September 2012

  • CDS spread volatility to continue

    News flow in the coming months may potentially contribute to further price volatility for eurozone bond and credit default swap spreads, according to Fitch. Spread levels could be affected by potential sovereign bailouts, the progress achieved within bailed-out countries, the speed at which policymakers can reform regulatory, economic and legal frameworks, and ultimately how these translate into economic growth in .......

    News Round-up 24 September 2012

  • CDO manager removed without cause

    Blackrock is set to be removed without cause as collateral manager for Toro ABS CDO II. A majority-in-interest of preference shareholders has directed the issuer to appoint Vertical Capital as successor collateral manager on the transaction. Vertical will be appointed as successor collateral manager unless the holders of a majority of the aggregate outstanding amount of each class of notes .......

    Job Swaps 24 September 2012

  • Trups CDO defaults trending lower

    US bank Trups CDO defaults and deferrals remained relatively flat for the month of August, according to Fitch. Defaults rose to 17.3% from 17%, but were tempered by deferrals, which fell to 14.3% from 14.6%. These results left the combined bank default and deferral rate at 31.6%.

    There were 20 new deferrals through the end of August, compared to 57 .......

    News Round-up 24 September 2012

  • Law firm poaches six

    K&L Gates has expanded its finance practice with the addition of four new partners in the London office. The law firm has also recruited two partners to its real estate investment, development and finance practice in the Charlotte office.

    The London hires comprise Matthew Duncan, Theresa Kradjian and Paul Matthews - who join from Sidley Austin - as well as .......

    Job Swaps 24 September 2012

  • Vitus CMBS prices

    Deutsche Bank has priced its hotly anticipated Vitus CMBS. The €754m transaction, dubbed Florentia, refinances the Vitus Immobilien German multifamily portfolio securitised in Centaurus (Eclipse 2005-3).

    Rated by DBRS and Fitch, Florentia comprises five tranches: €392m triple-A rated class A notes (which priced at 184bp over three-month Euribor), €121m double-A class Bs (295bp), €141m single-A class Cs (380bp), €50m triple-B .......

    News Round-up 24 September 2012

  • CRE CDO delinquencies drop

    US CRE CDO delinquencies have dropped for the fourth straight month, falling below 12% for the first time since August 2011, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. Only two new delinquencies were added to the index last month, while seven assets were removed.

    The August 2012 rate is 11.6%, down from 12.1% in July. Asset managers reported .......

    News Round-up 24 September 2012

  • Charge-offs continue to decline

    Securitised credit card charge-offs, as measured by Moody's Credit Card Index charge-off rate, decreased to 4.19% in August from 4.56% in July. Five of the six largest trusts posted declines, led by a 97bp improvement in the Chase trust's charge-off rate, largely attributable to a normalisation from its recent change in charge-off recognition policy. American Express was the only one .......

    News Round-up 24 September 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 24 September

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

    Pipeline
    A handful of transactions remained in the pipeline by the end of last week. Three of the deals were CMBS: US$448.2m FREMF 2012-KP01, US$1.14bn JPMCC 2012-C8 and US$406m MSBAM 2012-CKSV. The remainder comprised of auto-related ABS (C$398.6m NCAR LP Promissory Note 2012-1 and A$150m Liberty Series 2012-1) and a student loan issuance (US$375m Minnesota Office of Higher Education 2012).

    Pricings
    A .......

    News 24 September 2012

  • Too tight?

    Investors consider options as UK RMBS keeps tightening

    The UK RMBS market re-priced over the summer, tightening to ranges not seen for a long time. While some investors may consequently hunt elsewhere for yield, prime product remains attractive and could tighten even further.

    A year ago it seemed fanciful that triple-A rated new issue European RMBS paper would print as tight as 100bp, but a lot has changed .......

    News Analysis 24 September 2012
×