Complete news archive

  • Chinese pilot programme revived

    Further details about the revival - following its suspension in 2008 - of China's Credit Asset Securitisation Pilot Programme have emerged (SCI 4 April). The size of the programme is understood to be RMB50bn.

    Regulators will require trustees involved with the programme to publicly disclose the performance of the underlying asset pools periodically, which will bring more transparency to the .......

    News Round-up 12 June 2012

  • Proactive participants

    Trustees are embracing a more hands-on approach to issues fr...

    The trustee's role in the European securitisation market continues to evolve as lessons are learnt from the fallout of the financial crisis. Issues with documentation and bondholder communications continue to provide challenges, but there are opportunities too - particularly in emerging markets.

    "Post the 2008 distress, there has been a very obvious change from pre-2008 when the trustee role was .......

    News Analysis 12 June 2012

  • Market risk rule welcomed

    The US Federal Reserve's final market risk capital rule (SCI 8 June) has generally been welcomed for reflecting industry feedback, albeit some concerns remain. Crucially, the final rule modifies the simplified supervisory formula approach (SSFA) by replacing the flexible floor with an adjustment to risk weightings based on delinquencies of the underlying assets.

    "The final rule has addressed certain key .......

    News 11 June 2012

  • One-stop shop

    Christian Bearman, coo at Valad Europe, answers SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did Valad Europe become involved in CMBS workouts?
    A:     Originally founded in the 1960s, Valad Europe has grown through the acquisition of a number of local businesses in different regions to create one of the largest fully integrated real estate investment management platforms in Europe. In recent years, the company was listed .......

    The Structured Credit Interview 11 June 2012

  • Law firm appoints cat bond specialist

    Matthew Feig has joined Stroock & Stroock & Lavan as special counsel in the structured finance and insurance practice groups in New York. He joins from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft where he focused on risk-linked securities and structured and corporate finance.

    Feig specialises in catastrophe bonds and cell tower transactions. Before Cadwalader he was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & .......

    Job Swaps 11 June 2012

  • Special servicing head joins

    John D'Amico has joined TriMont Real Estate Advisors as director of special asset management. He will head the firm's special servicing division and be based in Atlanta.

    D'Amico was previously general counsel of ARCap REIT and Centerline Holdings and has also been an officer, board and executive committee member of the CRE Finance Council.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 June 2012

  • CRE acquisition announced

    Walker & Dunlop has agreed to purchase CWCapital for US$220m. Michael Berman, CWCapital ceo, will take a senior leadership role at Walker & Dunlop.

    The purchase price includes US$80m in cash and around US$140m in Walker & Dunlop stock, subject to potential adjustment based on changes in the stock price pending closing. Walker & Dunlop say the combined company will .......

    Job Swaps 11 June 2012

  • Spanish ratings cap lowered

    Fitch has downgraded 234 tranches related to 156 Spanish structured finance (SF) transactions, following the downgrade of Spain's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to triple-B from single-A. The affected tranches comprise 150 RMBS, 58 structured credit, 23 ABS and three CMBS classes from across 101 RMBS, 40 structured credit, 14 ABS and one CMBS deals. Additionally, the agency has .......

    News Round-up 11 June 2012

  • Russian DPR programme minted

    ZAO Raiffeisenbank (RBRU) has established a new diversified payment rights (DPR) securitisation programme in Russia. The first issuance under the programme - dubbed ROOF Russia DPR Finance Company - comprise US$125m series 2012-A and series 2012-B notes, which have been assigned single-A minus ratings by Fitch.

    The notes are backed by the collections generated from future and existing US dollar- .......

    News Round-up 11 June 2012

  • Ocala investor rights upheld

    US District Court Judge Robert Sweet last week ruled in the ongoing Ocala Funding litigation (SCI passim) that ABCP investors can sue over claims arising in documents, even though they were not parties to those documents, when their agent refuses to sue or allow the investors to sue. Moody's notes in its latest Weekly Credit Outlook publication that the decision .......

    News Round-up 11 June 2012

  • SLABS trusts hit

    Fitch has taken various actions on 10 FFELP student loan ABS trusts that are currently on rating watch negative. The actions include both downgrades and affirmations.

    The trusts were reviewed due to the prominence of a unique multiplier function and its usual determination based on lowest rating assigned to the notes by any rating agency (see also SCI 28 September .......

    News Round-up 11 June 2012

  • California loan drives CMBS late-pays

    US CMBS late-pays rose by 12bp in May to 8.65% from 8.53% in April, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. Driving the increase was the failed modification attempt of a US$470m loan secured by Two California Plaza (see SCI's CMBS loan events database).

    The loan, securitised in GSMS 2007-GG10, had previously been characterised as in .......

    News Round-up 11 June 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 11 June

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

    Pipeline
    A handful of new deals entered the pipeline last week. The only such European transaction is €1.4bn BBVA RMBS 11 FTA, but it was joined by a US$1.24bn CMBS from Freddie Mac (FREMF 2012-K709), a US$511.96m CLO (Gramercy Park CLO), a US$700m student loan ABS (EFS Volunteer No. 3) and a US$761m auto lease deal (World Omni Automobile Lease Securitization .......

    News 11 June 2012

  • Set-off risk approach revised

    Moody's has updated its approach to analysing set-off risk in relation to Italian structured finance transactions and covered bond programmes. Five deals have been placed on review as a result.

    Under the revisions, the agency no longer gives full value to the Italian deposit compensation funds, given that the credit quality of the funds is no longer Aaa rated following .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • ABS CDO auction due

    Dock Street Capital Management has been retained to act as liquidation agent for Orchid Structured Finance CDO II. The collateral will be auctioned at two public sales on 19 June.

    .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • Spanish bank capital positions examined

    Spain's double-dip recession will accelerate domestic banks' accumulation of problem assets in 2012 and 2013 and significantly lift associated loan losses, in S&P's opinion.

    "We estimate in our base-case scenario that Spanish banks' loan losses to be recognised in 2012 and 2013 will range between €80bn-€112bn," comments S&P credit analyst Elena Iparraguirre. "These amounts include losses pending recognition at year-end .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • Mexican RMBS criteria updated

    S&P has published its revised criteria for rating Mexican RMBS, which are effective immediately but aren't expected to have any impact on outstanding ratings. The changes update the credit and liquidity assumptions for RMBS backed by Fovissste residential mortgage pools and clarify the application of foreclosure frequency curves in cashflow scenarios under certain conditions.

    The revised criteria address employer concentration .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • RFC issued on reg cap rules

    The US Federal Reserve has invited comment on three proposed rules intended to help ensure banks maintain strong capital positions. Taken together, the proposals would establish an integrated regulatory capital framework, implementing the Basel 3 reforms and changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

    The rulemaking is divided into three proposed rules to minimise the burden on smaller and mid-sized banking .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • Mall credit analysis warning

    With the performance gap between stronger and weaker retail malls growing, Moody's notes that malls whose ongoing viability is not assured require careful scrutiny in their CMBS credit analysis and may merit a recovery-based approach. While the vast majority of the CMBS loans collateralised by regional malls that the agency has reviewed have been high quality, it says it has .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • AG interventions granted

    New York state judge Justice Barbara Kapnick has granted a motion by the Attorneys General of New York and Delaware to intervene in the litigation relating to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's proposed US$8.5bn RMBS settlement with the Bank of New York Mellon (30 August 2011). The New York and Delaware AGs moved to intervene on the grounds that the .......

    News Round-up 8 June 2012

  • BGC boosts real estate team

    Garett Stoffels has joined BGC Partners as senior md and head of equity capital markets for the real estate capital markets group. He will be based in New York and report to Michael Lehrman, global head of real estate.

    Stoffels was previously global head of Cantor Fitzgerald's private capital group. He has also worked as co-head of direct private placements .......

    Job Swaps 8 June 2012
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