Complete news archive

  • Record cat bond volumes posted

    First-quarter catastrophe bond issuance hit a record US$1.49bn as investors deployed additional capital into the sector, according to Aon Benfield Securities' latest quarterly ILS update. The firm forecasts that full-year 2012 ILS issuance will be in the range of US$5bn to US$6bn.

    A total of nine transactions closed in the first quarter, featuring both new and repeat sponsors. An additional .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • CDO defaulted obligation declared

    A €6m senior bond issued by Geipel, which was purchased by PULS CDO 2007-1, has been declared as a defaulted obligation under the transaction's definitions. The move is in response to the lack of clarity around the company and whether it will meet its payment obligations in the future.

    Geipel missed its interest payment for the first time in January .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • Swaps reporting tool offered

    Sapient Global Markets has launched CMRS, designed to help clients achieve a unified view of compliance across systems, asset classes and geographies. The system addresses OTC swaps data reporting requirements under Dodd-Frank Title VII and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. It allows firms to collate data from disparate systems, translate it into the destination message format, deliver it directly to .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • Derivatives valuation workflow supported

    SuperDerivatives (SD) has launched what it describes as a next-generation platform for on-demand derivatives revaluation. Dubbed eValueX, the multi-asset platform allows institutions to manage the entire derivatives valuation workflow from file upload to valuation retrieval. The service is designed to enable users to view the market data used in the calculation of each trade and connect directly to the SDX .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • Newly-formed credit shop strengthened

    Stephen Hickey has joined CVC Credit Partners (CCP) as member of the management committee, partner and chief risk officer. He will be based in New York and have global responsibilities, including chairing the newly-formed global portfolio committee, overseeing investments and the development of the firm's business and products.

    Hickey joins from Goldman Sachs, where he spent 20 years in various .......

    Job Swaps 18 April 2012

  • Servicer 'clawback' practices in the spotlight

    Morningstar has published a report that sheds light on residential mortgage servicer cashflow management practices, which reimburse them for previous advances from the collection account of current, creditworthy borrowers. The agency notes that such tactics are little known but are becoming increasingly more common.

    These cashflow management practices are allowed when stipulated by pooling and servicing agreements (PSA), but implementation .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • ILS lawyer follows colleague

    Richard Spitzer has joined Mayer Brown in New York as partner in the firm's insurance finance group and banking and finance practice. He specialises in catastrophe bond offerings, sidecars and other ILS.

    Spitzer joins from Dewey & LeBoeuf, where he was corporate finance partner. His arrival follows the recent appointment of Stephen Rooney, who also left Dewey for Mayer's New .......

    Job Swaps 18 April 2012

  • Opera Uni credit bid voted in

    Opera Finance (Uni-Invest) class A noteholders yesterday approved the credit bid option presented by TPG and Patron Capital (SCI passim), following their rejection of the consensual restructuring option. Class B, C and D noteholders voted in favour of the latter proposal, but the resolution required approval by 75% of each class.

    Class A noteholders will now receive an immediate cash .......

    News Round-up 18 April 2012

  • HCA seeking loan extension

    HCA, the fourth largest CLO holding, is launching a loan extension. Securitisation analysts at S&P view the move as a credit negative for some transactions.

    HCA is seeking to extend the maturity on term loans maturing in November 2012 and November 2013 to February 2016. Of the 199 CLOs exposed to these loans, 37 mature before the proposed loan extension .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • 'Positive' quarter for sovereign CDS

    CMA has released its 1Q12 global sovereign debt credit risk report, in which it names the top-ten most and least risky sovereigns, as well as the best and worst performers. Overall, the quarter was positive for many sovereigns as the cost of global CDS protection reduced in comparison to last quarter, with many of the least risky sovereigns returning to .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • Trups CDOs reviewed on criteria update

    S&P has published updated assumptions and methodology for rating US Trups CDOs, following a review of performance of the underlying bank trust preferred securities through the recent economic cycle, as well as certain banking regulatory changes. As a result, the agency has placed its ratings on 90 tranches from 66 Trups CDOs - representing an aggregate issuance amount of US$17.88bn .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • Positive CDO ratings trend noted

    S&P upgraded 750 classes of structured credit notes in 1Q12, over a 75% jump from the 426 upgrades recorded in the previous quarter. Upgrades of US CLOs contributed significantly to the overall increase.

    In terms of downgrades, the 241 S&P took is the lowest number in any quarter since 2007. The rating activity boosted the overall upgrade-to-downgrade ratio to 3.1 .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • CMBS LTVs set to increase

    The leverage on loans backing upcoming US CMBS conduit transactions is poised to increase, Moody's reports in its quarterly review of the sector. The agency notes that several conduits in its 2Q12 pipeline have collateral pools with average leverage approaching or exceeding 100% Moody's loan-to-value ratio (MLTV).

    "While final pool composition is still subject to change, should the more highly .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • Spanish scenario analysis released

    Severe mortgage arrears in Spain may rise to a peak of 3.2% by the end of 2012 from 2.8% at the end of 2011, under baseline economic assumptions, according to a new scenario analysis report by S&P. However, in a more pessimistic scenario - where economic conditions worsen more than are currently forecast - the agency's analysis suggests that severe .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • German multifamily exposures eyed

    Of the large German multifamily CMBS portfolios, only Grand will extend, suggest ABS analysts at Deutsche Bank.

    The analysts cite GAGFAH's recent upbeat conference call on both the €1.1bn WOBA loan (split equally between WINDM IX and DECO 2007 E5X) and the €2.2bn GAGFAH 1 loan (securitised in GRF 2006-1), which mature in 2013, as a basis for this view. .......

    News 17 April 2012

  • Minimal EMEA ABS impairments recorded

    Moody's says that EMEA ABS has performed as expected since the onset of the financial crisis. Between 1January 2007 and 31 December 2011, the migration of investment grade securities to impairment/default was minimal.

    Twenty-three EMEA ABS tranches rated investment grade at closing across 14 transactions became impaired during the period, amounting to 1% of 2,127 investment grade EMEA ABS tranches .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • New Europe credit head named

    Doug Henderson has joined Oak Hill Advisors in London as partner. He joins from Goldman Sachs and will lead the firm's European performing credit business.

    Henderson succeeds Richard Munn, who is stepping down from his full-time commitment to the firm to become a senior advisor. Henderson was chairman of the European credit finance group in Goldman's investment banking division, responsible .......

    Job Swaps 16 April 2012

  • CRE trio join new office

    Walker & Dunlop has hired three veteran originators for a new office in Fort Lauderdale. Paul Ahmed, David Gahagan and Lance Lehman each join as vp and will focus on financing income producing properties in the southeast region.

    The group join from Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, where Ahmed and Gahagan were vps and Lehman was svp. All three specialise in .......

    Job Swaps 16 April 2012

  • FMI principles published

    IOSCO and the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) have published three documents that promote global efforts to strengthen financial market infrastructures (FMIs). These are: a report entitled 'Principles for financial market infrastructures'; a consultation paper on an assessment methodology for these new standards; and a consultation paper on a disclosure framework for the standards.

    The principles support the .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2012

  • ILS diversification play underlined

    Catastrophe bond issuance volumes hit close to record levels of US$1.7bn in 1Q12, according to Clear Path Analysis in its latest report on the sector. The study also notes that institutional investors are increasingly considering allocating to the asset class as they seek to diversify their portfolios away from other, more mainstream financial market instruments.

    "An investment particularly in catastrophe .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 16 April

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

    Pipeline
    A few new deals hit the pipeline last week only to price by Friday. Still standing at the end of the week were two RMBS transactions (Saecure 11 and A$696.75m SMHL Series Securitisation Fund 2012-1). Finally, Oxford Finance is also in the market with Oxford Finance Funding Trust 2012-1.

    Pricings
    It was a busier week for pricings. Five auto deals printed, .......

    News 16 April 2012
×