Complete news archive

  • Freddie eyes five-year mortgages

    Freddie Mac is in the market with the US$1.1bn FREMF 2012-K501, its first CMBS backed exclusively by multifamily mortgages with a five-year term. The transaction is expected to price this week and settle on 11 April.

    "In the first quarter of this year, we have brought four K Deals to a vibrant agency CMBS market," comments Mitch Resnick, co-head of .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • Agency MBS portfolio wound down

    The US Treasury Department has completed the orderly wind down of its agency MBS portfolio, generating a positive return of US$25bn for taxpayers. Treasury invested US$225bn in MBS during 2008 and 2009, with taxpayers receiving total cash returns of US$250bn from the portfolio through sales, principal and interest.

    "The successful sale of these securities marks another important milestone in the .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • Auto ABS losses hit new low

    US prime auto ABS losses dropped to a new record low last month, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector.

    Prime annualised net losses (ANL) dropped by 28% in February to 0.38%, down from 0.53% in January and 57.8% better year-over-year (YOY). This compares to the prior low of 0.41% in June 2011.

    Used vehicle values have been .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • AOFM unloads RMBS in pricing exercise

    The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) says it has sold US$50m of RMBS so far this month. The assets were fixed rate bullet securities with a maturity due in November 2016.

    The sale was made at an effective margin of 132bp over the interpolated swap rate. This compares with a margin of 150bp over the five-year swap rate when .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • CRE debt JV formed

    Hudson Realty Capital and RXR Realty have launched a CRE lending platform to originate and purchase CRE debt assets. The joint venture will focus on first-mortgage bridge loans as well as B-notes, mezzanine and preferred equity opportunities in the New York tri-state region.

    RXR has significant experience operating in these markets and will provide real estate underwriting through use of .......

    Job Swaps 19 March 2012

  • Investment firm adds two

    London-based securitised products investment firm Pearl Diver Capital has announced two new appointments. Michael Brown has been named avp, structuring and quantitative analytics, while Georgia Jelliman has been appointed head of operations/middle office. Matthew Layton, vp of credit, has been promoted to partner at the firm.

    Chandrajit Chakraborty, managing partner and co-founder, continues as cio and leads Pearl Diver's trading .......

    Job Swaps 19 March 2012

  • CRE firm appoints sales md

    Jordan Cortez has joined Rockwood Real Estate Advisors as md. He will be based in Dallas and lead the firm's investment sales efforts throughout Texas and the Southwest as well as executing complex debt and equity engagements nationally.

    Cortez joins from Johnson Capital where he was equity finance vp in New York and focused on large scale equity raises and .......

    Job Swaps 19 March 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 19 March

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

    Pipeline
    FirstRand Bank's £239m Turbo Finance 2 auto ABS entered the pipeline last week. Two ILS deals (Blue Danube 2012-1 and US$150m Combine Re) and three CMBS (US$324.8m BAMLL-DB 2012-OSI, US$452.79m Liberty Revenue Refunding Bonds series 2012 and US$925m WFRBS 2012-C6) are also being marketed.

    Pricings
    Last week was the busiest of the year so far for pricings. Sixteen deals, including the .......

    News 19 March 2012

  • A2E record reached

    At nearly US$17.3bn across 14 different issuers, February's US loan amend-to-extend (A2E) volume was the most since April 2011 and its number of amending issuers a record high, according to CDO strategists at RBS. This is said to reflect broader market recognition that A2E is an inexpensive way for issuers to take advantage of the open credit markets and low .......

    News 19 March 2012

  • Stay granted in Citi CDO case

    A panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week granted the SEC's motion to stay proceedings of its action against Citigroup, pending resolution of the parties' appeal seeking to set aside Judge Rakoff's rejection of the settlement agreement. The SEC had accused Citi of selling a US$1bn CDO called Class V Funding III, without disclosing that it was .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • ABS CDO auction due

    Dock Street Capital Management has been retained to act as liquidation agent for Ipswich Street CDO. The collateral will be sold to the best qualified bidders in two public sales on 27 March.

    .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2012

  • Special servicer switched

    The operating advisor on Deco 17 - Pan Europe 7 has replaced Hatfield Philips with Deutsche Bank as special servicer for the Mayne loan. Moody's notes that, based on its assessment of the capability of Deutsche Bank to perform the role, the replacement will not result in a reduction or withdrawal of the current ratings of the notes.

    The agency .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Slight up-tick seen in CRE CDO delinquencies

    CRE CDO delinquencies rose slightly in February to 13.4% from 13.2% in January, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. Asset managers reported 13 new delinquent assets during the month.

    Similar to the previous month, multiple interests in the same matured balloon loan comprised the largest portion of new delinquencies. A-notes secured by the Cadillac Fairview retail mall .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Negative ratings migration continues

    Global structured finance rating activity remained negative in 2011, as the number of downgrades outnumbered upgrades by an 11 to 1 margin, according to Fitch's latest ratings migration study. Approximately 33% of SF securities were downgraded last year - a share that is nearly even with 2010 - while 3% were upgraded.

    However, the impairment rate across global SF securities .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Laywer joins derivatives team

    Field Fisher Waterhouse has recruited Daniel Franks for its derivatives and structured finance group. He will join in April as partner.

    Franks was most recently counsel at Allen & Overy, where he specialised in a range of privately negotiated derivatives including structured repos, structured credit and equity and alternative financing. He also advises in connection with the hedging of securitisations .......

    Job Swaps 16 March 2012

  • EMEA special servicing activity reviewed

    One EMEA CMBS loan was transferred into special servicing and no loans were fully worked out during February, according to Moody's monthly update on the sector. The agency's weighted average expected principal loss for loans in special servicing stands at 36%.

    The newly transferred loan is the £429m City Point asset securitised in Ulysses (European Loan Conduit No. 27), backed .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Correlation book unloaded

    Crédit Agricole has transferred the market risk of its legacy credit correlation business to BlueMountain Capital Management and is said to have reduced its risk-weighted assets by €14bn as a result. A newly-established vehicle dubbed Alpine will reportedly hold the assets, with the French bank providing a liquidity facility.

    BlueMountain told SCI last September that it was making "significant progress" .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Third-party CRA regimes endorsed

    ESMA has confirmed that it considers the regulatory frameworks for credit rating agencies of the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore to be in line with European rules. EU regulations require the authority to assess whether the requirements of third-country CRA regimes are "as stringent as" the European ones.

    This confirmation allows European financial institutions to continue using for regulatory .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Elpida auction due

    The auction to settle the credit derivative trades for Elpida Memory Inc is scheduled for 22 March. The firm filed a petition for the commencement of corporate reorganisation proceedings with the Tokyo District Court on 27 February (SCI 29 February).

    .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • SN CDS analysis published

    The SEC has published an analysis of market data related to credit default swap transactions. The analysis is available for review as part of the comment file for rules proposed jointly with the CFTC to further define the terms 'swap dealer', 'security-based swap dealer', 'major swap participant', 'major security-based swap participant' and 'eligible contract participant' under Title VII of the .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012

  • Indemnity cat bond prepped

    Swiss Re is in the market with Combine Re, an indemnity catastrophe bond exposed to US hurricane, storm and earthquake risk. The reinsured parties involved are COUNTRY Mutual Insurance Company and North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance.

    The transaction comprises US$100m class A and US$50m class B principal at-risk variable rate notes due 7 January 2015. Moody's has assigned provisional .......

    News Round-up 16 March 2012
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