Complete news archive

  • Publisher's CDS settled

    The final price of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co CDS was determined to be 55.5. Twelve dealers submitted initial markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction, held yesterday (30 May) to settle trades across the market referencing the entity.

    .......

    News Round-up 31 May 2012

  • Credit bid rights upheld

    The US Supreme Court has ruled that a secured creditor cannot be denied its right to 'credit bid' - or offset the amount of its debt against the purchase price of assets, rather than bidding in cash - in sales of collateral under Chapter 11 plans of reorganisation. The move resolves a widely publicised split of authority among the Circuit .......

    News Round-up 31 May 2012

  • Aussie RMBS, LMI reviewed

    Moody's has released its updated residential mortgage loss model for Australia. At the same time, it has announced reviews for possible downgrade of Australian RMBS transactions and lenders' mortgage insurer (LMI) ratings.

    The agency notes that while risk scenarios involving a sharp correction in the housing market are unlikely to eventuate, they are plainly identifiable and would present a considerable .......

    News Round-up 31 May 2012

  • Direct lending gaining traction

    Fitch says it expects direct lending through funds to gain momentum as European bank deleveraging continues to drive corporate disintermediation. The agency anticipates that assets such as properties or corporate loans will be increasingly financed via funds, which will often have recourse to debt to increase returns for junior/equity investors, typically pension funds or insurers.

    In this context, Fitch points .......

    News Round-up 31 May 2012

  • Counterparty criteria updated

    Fitch has published updated criteria for the analysis of counterparty risk in structured finance transactions. The criteria update follows the publication of an exposure draft report (SCI 12 March) and the subsequent review of feedback received.

    The updates include extended rating eligibility thresholds and changes to collateral posting calculations, as proposed in the exposure draft. However, based upon mixed feedback .......

    News Round-up 31 May 2012

  • Delinquency rate reaches all-time high

    The US CMBS delinquency rate set an all-time high this month, according to Trepp, jumping by 24bp to 10.04%. Whether the rate creeping into double digits for the first time carries some psychological impact on the market remains to be seen.

    The increase was driven by large losses to hotel and industrial loans. Overall, four of the five largest property .......

    News Round-up 30 May 2012

  • US CLO managers eye Euro exposure

    Grohe and Misys are the latest European companies to launch US dollar-denominated leveraged loans. Fitch suggests that this trend may spur US CLO managers to increasingly invest in European credits.

    The rating agency notes that many US CLO managers have either developed or acquired capabilities to perform due diligence in the European credit markets. At the same time, European companies have diminished .......

    News Round-up 30 May 2012

  • ILS vet takes senior role

    Frederick Schlosser has joined Forum National Investments as director. He has more than 30 years of experience in structured finance, with almost a decade in the life settlement industry. Schlosser was most recently md at Solstice Strategies and was previously partner at Brevet Capital investing in ILS.

    .......

    Job Swaps 30 May 2012

  • Dewey CMBS specialists depart

    Dewey & LeBoeuf's former European restructuring head, Mark Fennessy, has joined Proskauer in London. He joins with Hazel Miller and a team of ex-Dewey lawyers as Proskauer grows its global capabilities.

    Fennessy and Miller both focus on corporate restructuring and special situations, including structured products. As well as financial and corporate mandates they have particular experience in CMBS restructurings.

    .......

    Job Swaps 30 May 2012

  • BauBeCon sale sets valuation benchmark

    Deutsche Wohnen is set to acquire the BauBeCon Group for a reported €1.24bn. CMBS analysts at Barclays Capital suggest that the purchase provides insight into the achievable value for large German multifamily portfolios of not necessarily prime quality, as well as evidence of debt availability for such assets.

    The BauBeCon Group owns approximately 23,500 German multifamily units, of which 82% .......

    News 29 May 2012

  • 'Risk-off' weighing on CMBX

    CMBX spreads remain at elevated levels but are still tight to October 2011's record wides. In addition to recent 'risk-off' sentiment, increased supply from the MAX CDO liquidation has weighed on the cash and synthetic AJ markets, according to CMBS analysts at Citi.

    They note that the CMBX.4.AJ and CMBX.3.AJ indices are now respectively down by 13.1% and 6.2% year-to-date, .......

    News Round-up 29 May 2012

  • Avoca expands to target European opportunities

    James Hatchley has joined Avoca Capital Holdings as co-ceo. He has already worked with Avoca on several projects over the last four years as the company has expanded its European structured credit and ABS capabilities.

    Hatchley will split his time between the Dublin and London offices, targeting growth opportunities in the European credit markets. He joins from Freeman & Co .......

    Job Swaps 29 May 2012

  • Capital markets principal appointed

    Adriaan van der Knaap has joined StormHarbour as principal and md. He will be based in New York and assume US financial institutions capital markets responsibility.

    Van der Knaap joins from UBS, where he was responsible for coverage of banks, restructuring and structured solutions. He has previously served as UBS' global structured capital markets chairman and head of DCM for .......

    Job Swaps 29 May 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 28 May

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

    Pipeline
    It was another steady week for the pipeline, with seven new deals remaining on Friday. Freddie Mac is in the market with the US$1.213bn FREMF 2012-K708, its seventh K Certificate transaction of the year. It is not the only CMBS circulating, as the US$159.5m S2 Hospitality Series 2012-LV1 is also marketing.

    The US$285.5m Garrison Funding 2012-1 was the only CLO .......

    News 28 May 2012

  • FUEL exchange triggered

    Moody's recent upgrade of Ford Credit to investment grade has triggered the exchange of the Ford Upgrade Exchange-Linked (FUEL) ABS notes for the firm's senior unsecured debt. The US$1.5bn series 2011-1 and US$1bn series 2011-2 auto loan ABS were structured to mandatorily exchange upon Ford achieving an investment grade rating from two rating agencies during the transactions' five-year revolving period .......

    News Round-up 28 May 2012

  • Ardenwood loan on watchlist

    Morningstar has added the US$53m Ardenwood Corporate Park loan, securitised in CSMC 2007-C3, to its watchlist following a notification from the collateral's largest tenant (Logitech) of an intention to vacate its leased space. The firm accounts for roughly 48% of the gross leasable area (GLA) and 37% of effective gross income (EGI). Commentary from the master servicer indicates the available .......

    News Round-up 25 May 2012

  • FVMO 'rarely exercised'

    Fitch reports that special servicers rarely exercise the fair value market purchase option (FVMO). A survey conducted by the agency found that, since 2001, the FVMO was exercised in US CMBS transactions just 11 times. On nine of those occasions it was exercised by an affiliate or interested party.

    Fitch expects these events to remain rare as they are complex .......

    News Round-up 25 May 2012

  • IOSCO opens CRA consultation

    IOSCO's Technical Committee has published a consultation report, describing certain internal controls and procedures that credit rating agencies (CRAs) use to promote the integrity of the credit rating process and address conflicts of interest, with a view to promoting a better understanding of these practices. The views of stakeholders and CRAs on these questions will assist IOSCO with further analysis .......

    News Round-up 25 May 2012

  • Failure to pay determined

    ISDA's Asia Ex-Japan Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has resolved that a failure to pay credit event occurred in relation to Sterling Biotech. The Committee determined that an auction will not be held in respect of outstanding CDS transactions on the name.

    .......

    News Round-up 25 May 2012

  • CMBS loan events updated

    23 new loan events have been added to the SCI CMBS loan events database. These include:

    24/05/2012
    Deal: THEAT 07-1 & 07-2
    Property: 36 Hospitals
    Balance: £377m & £251m
    Event: borrower hasn't yet agreed to meet with servicer to discuss impending maturity; servicer engaged Paul Hastings as legal counsel
    Description: borrower engaged NM Rothschild as financial advisor; servicer began discussions with a number of .......

    News Round-up 25 May 2012

  • Counterparty issues

    CMBS liquidity facility disputes set to rise

    Counterparty issues in CMBS have been relatively rare in Europe. But a recent dispute over liquidity facilities could mark the beginning of a series of issues involving the obligations of SPVs in the sector.

    Certainly, European securitisation analysts at Deutsche Bank believe that 2012 is the year where the workings of liquidity facilities will come under scrutiny. "In particular, because .......

    News Analysis 25 May 2012
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