Complete news archive

  • Hedge fund branches out

    Saba Capital Management, the US$4.7bn hedge fund established by Boaz Weinstein, is set to open a UK office in 1Q12. The new branch - which has been launched as a research centre and sub-advisor to the US limited partnership - will be led by former Deutsche Bank leveraged finance trading head Prakash Narayanan and is currently awaiting FSA registration. Throgmorton .......

    Job Swaps 14 November 2011

  • RMBS pro recruited

    Bill Twombly has joined Risk Management Group as md of its due diligence practice, replacing Dante Jackson. Twombly will be responsible for setting the strategic direction of the practice, as well as overseeing RMG's Phoenix operations centre. He has over 25 years of experience in the real estate and mortgage finance industry and was most recently head of due diligence .......

    Job Swaps 14 November 2011

  • OIS valuation capabilities included

    Principia Partners has released the latest version of its Structured Finance Platform (SFP). Version 6.6 delivers enhanced valuation capabilities to support the shift in derivatives markets towards Overnight Index Swap (OIS) discounting (SCI 4 November), providing clients with the flexibility to adopt OIS discounting for collateral calculations and valuation of their derivative positions.

    OIS-based valuations for most major currencies can .......

    News Round-up 14 November 2011

  • SCI Start the Week - 14 November

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

    Pipeline
    A range of new transactions remained in the pipeline at the end of last week, including a couple of esoteric ABS - the US$400m Miramax Series 2011-1 Film Library Asset-Backed Notes and the US$787.57m TSA Minnesota tobacco settlement revenue bonds series 2011. Rounding out the ABS deals were the US$300m KAL ABS 8 and US$750m Volkswagen Auto Lease Trust 2011-A.
    These .......

    News 14 November 2011

  • Dynegy auction set

    The auction to settle the credit derivative trades for Dynegy Holdings CDS is scheduled to be held on 29 November. This follows the bankruptcy credit event that occurred on 9 November.

    .......

    News Round-up 14 November 2011

  • Absolute return fund minted

    PIMCO has launched a credit absolute return fund for investors seeking a global, diversified strategy that is not constrained by a benchmark. The PIMCO GIS Credit Absolute Return Fund, which is managed by md and global head of corporate bond portfolio management Mark Kiesel, aims to invest in the best long and short credit positions in every part of the .......

    News Round-up 14 November 2011

  • Greek ratings ceiling reviewed again

    Moody's has placed on review for downgrade Greek structured finance notes rated from Ba1 to B3, representing nine tranches of six ABS, 19 tranches of eight RMBS and one tranche in one CLO. The rating action reflects the increased risk of a disorderly default of Greece on its debt, the agency notes, which would increase the likelihood of high severity .......

    News Round-up 14 November 2011

  • 2012 CMBS loan defaults set to increase

    North American CMBS loan defaults slowed in the first half of 2011 after spiking in 2009 and 2010, according to a research paper published by S&P.

    "With CRE lenders becoming more cautious in the current environment, refinancing prospects for maturing loans have lessened. As 2012 is a big year for CMBS loan maturities, annual loan defaults, in our view, could .......

    News Round-up 14 November 2011

  • CRE CDO delinquencies inch up

    Delinquencies on US CRE CDOs rose slightly for the second month in a row, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector, increasing to 12.5% in October from 12% the previous month. The agency expects volatility to persist for CRE CDO delinquencies as asset managers continue to work out troubled loans within the CDO or pursue resolution outside the .......

    News Round-up 11 November 2011

  • Punch bonds pressured as downgrades hit

    Fitch has cut its ratings on the Punch A and Punch B pub securitisations by between two to four notches, with the most meaningful impact being the removal of the Punch B class A notes from the iBoxx investment grade index. While not unexpected given the agency's revised criteria for UK whole business transactions (SCI passim), some technical selling pressure .......

    News Round-up 11 November 2011

  • Replacement portfolio manager named

    Daniel Zimmermann has replaced Manfred Gabriel as the key person on the PULS CDO 2006-1 and 2007-1 deals. This follows the latter's resignation from the board of the portfolio manager, Capital Securities Group, which triggered a key personnel event (SCI 28 September). Noteholders have consented to the appointment of Zimmermann as a replacement person of the skill and experience, from .......

    Job Swaps 11 November 2011

  • Quantitative advisory board expands

    Alexander Lipton, md and co-head of the global quantitative group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has joined the Numerix Quantitative Advisory Board. The board was established to further the standardisation and advancement of pricing and risk for the OTC derivatives market by promoting professional interaction between renowned academics, researchers and Numerix. Lipton becomes the fourth member of the board.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 November 2011

  • Pickel returns as ISDA ceo

    Robert Pickel has been appointed ceo of ISDA, effective on 1 January 2012. He returns to the post after serving as the association's executive vice chairman for the past two years.

    Conrad Voldstad, ISDA ceo since November 2009, will continue to work with the association as a special advisor at the request of the board. He will assist on strategic .......

    Job Swaps 11 November 2011

  • Dynegy credit event determined

    ISDA's Americas Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has resolved that an auction will be held in due course in respect of Dynegy Holdings. This follows its resolution on 9 November that a bankruptcy credit event had occurred.

    .......

    News Round-up 11 November 2011

  • Timing issues

    RMBS cases to swell as timing limits expire

    The number of RMBS-related law suits in the US is unlikely to abate for some time to come. However, those considering claims will take note of the recent court case ruling involving Allstate and Countrywide, in which the judge threw out a number of RMBS fraud claims on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.

    In a case .......

    News Analysis 10 November 2011

  • Drop in CMBS loan pay-offs

    One month after posting the highest reading since December 2008, the percentage of CMBS loans paying off at their maturity plummeted in October, according to Trepp's October pay-off report.

    In October, 41.8% of loans reaching their balloon date paid off. This was over 22 points lower than September's 64.4% reading, marking the single biggest monthly drop since April 2010.

    Trepp .......

    News Round-up 10 November 2011

  • Bank monoline losses updated

    An ISDA study as part of its examination of losses incurred in the US banking system due to counterparty defaults on OTC derivatives has found the counterparty credit risk exposure of 12 US bank holding companies and international banking companies to monoline insurers has led to US$54bn in bank write-downs since 2007.

    ISDA's study follows an earlier paper based on .......

    News Round-up 10 November 2011

  • Key macroeconomic SF influencers listed

    S&P has identified the five top macroeconomic factors which it believes are most relevant to credit quality. The agency says unemployment, home price behaviour, GDP, equity returns and corporate credit risk premium are the factors most relevant to its global structured finance securities ratings actions.

    "We selected our top five factors by examining correlations among economic variables and their sensitivities .......

    News Round-up 10 November 2011

  • Aussie act 'could be credit negative'

    The Australian Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (PPSA), due to take effect around February 2012, could be credit negative for transactions parties, warns Moody's. The PPSA will replace 70 state and federal acts as well as eliminating more than 30 individual securities registers and apply to a host of securitised assets and structures.

    "It is going to broaden the purview .......

    News Round-up 10 November 2011

  • SF deals to feel eurozone crisis effects

    Whilst the expected default of Greece is "affordable", a final resolution of the Greek sovereign situation will not be enough to stabilise the rest of the region, which may have indirect inlays to structured finance transactions in the affected regions, says Fitch in a new report.

    "We continue to believe that the crisis will be protracted, but we still don't .......

    News Round-up 10 November 2011

  • Euro ABS trader hired

    Paolo Binarelli has joined Banca IMI's securitised products and loan trading desk in Milan, headed by Roberto Lucchini. In his new role, he will trade ABS and MBS.

    Binarelli previously worked as a portfolio manager at P&G SGR Alternative Investments.

    .......

    Job Swaps 9 November 2011
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