Complete news archive

  • Affirmations for some FFELP ABS

    S&P has affirmed its ratings on 239 classes from 178 US FFELP student loan ABS deals and removed them from credit watch, where they were placed with negative implications on 15 July, following the placement of the US sovereign ratings on credit watch negative.

    The rating affirmations include 26 classes of triple-A rated senior bonds from 22 transactions. The remaining .......

    News Round-up 31 August 2011

  • SME CLO review completed

    Fitch reports that the reviews of SME CLO transactions since its criteria update in June (SCI 7 June) have mostly resulted in rating affirmations.

    "79% of the reviewed SME CLO tranches have been affirmed, as transaction performance has mostly stabilised," says Laurent Chane-Kon, director in Fitch's European structured finance team. "Portfolio performance - rather than the criteria update - was .......

    News Round-up 31 August 2011

  • Structuring vet moves to SG

    Tareck Safi has left his role at RBS, where he was head of secured asset solutions, and is set to join Société Générale in November. He will join the European loan syndicate on the sales and trading desk, tasked with developing coverage of institutional investors.

    Safi will report to Richard Hill, EMEA head of loan sales and trading. He spent .......

    Job Swaps 31 August 2011

  • ABS trader returns to BNPP

    BNP Paribas has hired Bjoern Bauermeister as an ABS and MBS trader in London. He reports to Olivier Morand-Duval, European head of ABS trading.

    Bauermeister joins from Cantor Fitzgerald, where he spent two years in non-US ABS and MBS trading after a previous stint at BNP Paribas. He has also worked for WestLB, trading ABS and ABS CDOs.

    .......

    Job Swaps 31 August 2011

  • Countrywide interventions granted

    The judge overseeing Bank of America's US$8.5bn Countrywide RMBS settlement last Friday granted permission for several parties to act as interveners in the case (SCI passim), including Walnut Place, TM1 Investors, six of the FHLBs, V Re-Remic and groups of life insurance companies and pension funds. However, the New York and Delaware Attorney Generals haven't been granted permission to intervene .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2011

  • RMBS repurchase principles released

    The American Securitization Forum (ASF) has released model RMBS repurchase principles for investigating, resolving and enforcing remedies with respect to RMBS representations and warranties. The principles were developed as part of ASF Project RESTART, with the aim of being included in future RMBS transactions.

    The ASF believes that 'skin in the game' for originators and issuers of RMBS would be .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2011

  • ISDA names deputy ceo

    George Handjinicolaou has returned to ISDA as deputy ceo and head of ISDA Europe. He will be based in ISDA's European headquarters in London.

    Handjinicolaou served as ISDA's deputy ceo and regional director for EMEA from July 2007 to June 2009. In May 2009, he was appointed to the role of vice-chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC). He .......

    Job Swaps 30 August 2011

  • Dalradian CLOs acquired

    Rothschild Credit Management, a 100% owned subsidiary of NM Rothschild & Sons, has acquired Elgin Capital. Elgin Capital will remain as collateral manager on the Dalradian European CLO I, II, III and IV transactions, however, and continue to manage the portfolio in accordance with the master collateral management terms dated 8 August 2007.

    See SCI's CDO .......

    Job Swaps 30 August 2011

  • German SME performance diverges

    Of the three German SME securitisation sub-segments, SME CDOs and mezzanine CDOs performed worse than SME ABS during the financial crisis, according to Moody's. Mezzanine CDOs experienced greater refinancing risk concerns and adverse obligor selection, while the less granular portfolios backing SME CDOs and mezzanine CDOs mean they experienced higher cumulative default rates. While Moody's outlook for SME ABS and .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2011

  • More Aussie CMBS to emerge?

    Since the yields of Australian RMBS have come off their post-crisis highs, Australian originators of small ticket commercial loans are discovering that more investors - seeking higher yields - are investing in SME CMBS, according to Moody's. However, while the agency doesn't expect further issuance in the SME space this year, it suggests that there may be some issuance in .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2011

  • Innkeepers initiates litigation

    Innkeepers USA Trust and its affiliates yesterday announced that they have filed a complaint with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York against Cerberus Series Four Holdings, Chatham Lodging Trust and other related defendants for breach of contract and other claims for reneging on their commitment to acquire 64 hotels from Innkeepers (SCI passim).

    The "defendants .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2011

  • Mixed bag

    Volatility offers pros and cons for CLOs

    The recent sell-off in US leveraged loans has enabled existing CLOs to purchase assets at a discount. However, the current spread environment is proving somewhat challenging for managers seeking to bring new issues.

    Charles Kobayashi, portfolio manager at BlueMountain Capital Management, confirms that the recent sell-off in leveraged loans is positive for existing CLOs because assets can be bought at .......

    News Analysis 26 August 2011

  • Further Irish Life credit event called

    ISDA's EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has resolved that a restructuring credit event occurred in respect of Irish Life & Permanent. One or more auctions may be held in respect of outstanding CDS transactions of varying maturity buckets. This is a subsequent and separate credit event to that which the EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee resolved on 5 July and .......

    News Round-up 26 August 2011

  • Fewer US CMBS loans coming due in 2012

    2012 will see a sizeable drop in the number and volume of CMBS loans maturing from that seen this year, according to Fitch. In transactions rated by the agency, approximately 1,200 commercial mortgage loans totalling US$17.3bn are scheduled to mature in 2012 compared to 2,000 loans totalling US$22.5bn in 2011. Maturities are likely to remain modest in 2013 and 2014 .......

    News Round-up 26 August 2011

  • Auto ABS loss expectations lowered

    Credit performance has remained strong across all types of US auto loan ABS since mid-2009, says Moody's in a new quarterly sector summary. The strong performance is driven by the improvement of consumer credit and the exceptionally strong used vehicle market.

    "Delinquencies remain at historical lows and excess spread, the first level of credit protection against losses, has on average .......

    News Round-up 26 August 2011

  • ABS analyst added

    Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has appointed Sarah Wall as senior ABS investment analyst. Based in the firm's London office, she reports to Daniel McKernan, head of European and UK credit. Wall has over 11 years' experience in the financial industry, most recently at M&G Investments, where she was director of ABS restructuring and before that director of ABS credit research.

    .......

    Job Swaps 26 August 2011

  • Patriot Capital duo find new home

    JMP Group's alternative asset management arm Harvest Capital Strategies has formed Harvest Capital Credit, a specialty finance company providing structured credit to small businesses. Richard Buckanavage, who was formerly president and ceo of Patriot Capital Funding, serves as president of Harvest Capital Credit and is joined by Ryan Magee. The pair will be based in New York.

    Although Harvest Capital .......

    Job Swaps 26 August 2011

  • Recovery analytic values published

    S&P has released the updated values for its CMBS recovery analytic. The move follows the June update to the framework and macroeconomic assumptions that the rating agency uses in its regression models for forecasting property revenue and capitalisation rates (SCI 13 June).

    S&P has published an Excel workbook, which contains three spreadsheets. One describes the various columns in the result .......

    News Round-up 26 August 2011

  • iTraxx rules amended

    Markit has amended the rules governing its Markit iTraxx Europe family of credit default swap indices. The new rules take effect immediately and will therefore apply to the indices' roll into Series 16 on 20 September.

    Under the amendments, a Governance Committee has been established that includes the 12 Markit iTraxx Europe market makers with the largest index trading volumes .......

    News Round-up 25 August 2011

  • Come-back conditions

    CMBS loan assumptions make a return post-crisis

    CMBS loan assumptions are making a strong come-back in the US this year, after a hiatus in 2008-2009. However, the conditions that servicers typically place on assumptions appear to be more rigorous post-financial crisis.

    One noteworthy case from August 2010 that marked the re-emergence of CMBS loan assumptions after the financial crisis concerns Bethany Properties. The case involved the Arizona .......

    News Analysis 25 August 2011

  • JHF RMBS hit

    Moody's has downgraded the ratings on 40 tranches in 36 Japanese RMBS transactions and confirmed five tranches in three other transactions. The rating actions follow the downgrade of Japanese government-related issuers and Japanese banks on 24 August. The downgrade of these entities in turn follows Moody's decision to downgrade the JGB rating to Aa3, with a stable outlook, from Aa2.

    News Round-up 25 August 2011

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