Complete news archive

  • Saratoga management team enhanced

    Saratoga Investment Corp has appointed Michael Grisius as md and cio of Saratoga Investment Advisors, the management company overseeing its portfolio. The firm also intends to nominate Grisius to its board of directors.

    Grisius was previously co-chairman of the investment committee of Allied Capital, where he worked for 16 years originating and managing more than US$2bn of subordinated debt investments, .......

    Job Swaps 20 July 2011

  • EMEA special servicing activity reviewed

    Moody's reports in its latest EMEA specially serviced loan update that four loans were transferred into special servicing during June. One loan was removed, bringing the total number of loans in special servicing across EMEA CMBS large multi-borrower and single-borrower transactions monitored by the agency to 104.

    Highlights for the month include the restructuring of the €581m Mozart Loan securitised .......

    News Round-up 20 July 2011

  • New options?

    CRE loan refinancing opportunities scrutinised

    Recent restructurings of a number of CRE loans (SCI passim) alongside the launch of the first post-crisis CMBS would suggest that the European refinancing environment is improving - at least where prime assets are concerned. However, market participants warn that while there is increasing optimism for the future, the ability to find new debt capital for refinancing in today's market .......

    News Analysis 19 July 2011

  • Embracing change

    DECO paves way for European CMBS revival

    The successful launch of DECO 2011-CSPK is expected to mark the start of a revival in European CMBS, with at least four more deals slated for this year. Officially closed at the beginning of July, it is the first publicly-marketed, de-linked European CMBS to be fully placed with investors since 2007 and the first CMBS to comply with new regulatory .......

    News Analysis 19 July 2011

  • Uncertainty indicated ahead of bank earnings

    Market uncertainty surrounding major banks continues to increase, as evidenced by their still-widening CDS spreads, according to Fitch Solutions in its latest earnings commentary.

    CDS on Bank of America Corporation and Goldman Sachs Group, both reporting tomorrow, have been among the biggest underperformers over the past quarter. BofA's spreads are 31% wider, while Goldman has come out 29%. Both BofA .......

    News Round-up 19 July 2011

  • CMBS A/B splits, assumptions increasing

    US CMBS loan modification activity continues apace. However, modifications are becoming more sophisticated, with A-note/B-note splits and assumptions gaining in popularity.

    Only about 47% of loans modified in the first half of 2011 had their maturity dates extended, according to CMBS analysts at Barclays Capital, compared to as high as 70% a year ago. A-note/B-note splits, on the other hand, .......

    News 19 July 2011

  • Further mezz CMBS supply expected

    Additional US mezzanine conduit CMBS supply could hit the market, following the US$1bn liquidation of LNR VI 2007-2 CRE CDO last Friday. The liquidation was triggered by an EOD due to the B tranche taking interest shortfalls since April. Increasing modification rates are expected to trigger more interest shortfalls in the future, resulting in further CDOs experiencing EODs.

    In the .......

    News Round-up 19 July 2011

  • CypressTree CLO offloaded

    Acis Capital Management has been appointed successor collateral manager on Hewett's Island CLO I-R. The transaction was originally managed by CypressTree Investment Management, which was acquired from Primus Guaranty last year by CIFC (SCI passim).

    Acis is an affiliate of Highland Capital Management and Highland is a sub-advisor to Acis. In this capacity, Highland provides to Acis certain shared services, .......

    Job Swaps 19 July 2011

  • WesCorp suit filed

    The NCUA has filed another suit in California against RBS Securities, alleging violations of federal and state securities laws and misrepresentations in the sale of securities to WesCorp. This law suit follows two similar legal proceedings filed in the Federal District Court of Kansas against JPMorgan Securities and RBS (SCI 21 June).

    As liquidating agent for WesCorp, NCUA has a .......

    Job Swaps 19 July 2011

  • Counterparty risk

    Market concerned criteria changes devalue ratings

    Yesterday (18 July) marked the deadline for transactions to comply with S&P's changed counterparty criteria. Consequences for CMBS have been particularly acute, with a raft of deals downgraded, and there is concern in the market that these ratings no longer accurately reflect credit quality.

    S&P's new counterparty criteria give greater recognition to structural features, such as swaps and liquidity facilities .......

    News Analysis 19 July 2011

  • CMBS pay-off percentage jumps

    The percentage of US CMBS loans paying off on their balloon date jumped in June, according to the latest Trepp pay-off report. This jump comes on the heels of two consecutive months where the percentage fell.

    In June, 42.4% of loans reaching their balloon date paid off - over seven points above the May reading. The June number was above .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • ICE completes Dodd-Frank transition

    ICE Trust US completed its transition to a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organisation (DCO) and SEC-regulated securities clearing agency (SCA), as required by the Dodd-Frank Act, on 16 July. In addition, the clearinghouse has converted from a New York State Banking Department and Federal Reserve regulated bank and will be known as ICE Clear Credit.

    ICE Clear Credit will continue clearing .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • US-linked SF ratings on review

    S&P has placed its ratings on 604 structured finance transactions on credit watch negative after it placed on CWN its triple-A long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign rating of the US. Moody's took similar rating actions on 13 July (SCI 14 July).

    S&P's sovereign credit watch action reflects the agency's view of two separate but related issues, it says. The first .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • Indian counterparty exception made

    Fitch says it will make an exception to its counterparty criteria for Indian ABS and RMBS transactions that have an account bank as a single investor with a credit rating of at least A(ind)/F1(ind). The agency draws comfort in these cases from the fact that the investor is in possession of the fixed deposit required to maintain the transaction's rating .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • SF lawyer moves on

    Todd Miller has joined Greenberg Traurig as shareholder in its Orlando office, expanding the firm's corporate & securities practice in Florida. Miller's areas of experience include banking, lending and structured finance; mergers and acquisitions; and private equity. His structured finance practice includes credit card, automotive, trade receivable and other asset type securitisations on behalf of originators, underwriters and conduit sponsors.

    .......

    Job Swaps 18 July 2011

  • APAC ratings largely stable

    Fitch reports that the ratings of structured finance tranches backed by assets in the Asia-Pacific region were largely stable in 2Q11, although there are specific sectors where the agency's outlook is negative.

    "The outlook for certain Japanese CMBS remains negative at this time, although an increased proportion of this sector is now on stable outlook as Fitch has downgraded many .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • Cat bond duo prepped

    Two new cat bonds hit the market last week. Munich Re is marketing the third in its Queen Street series, while Swiss Re is offering the latest iterations of its Vita mortality transactions.

    The US$50m Queen Street III Capital European windstorm deal has been given a preliminary rating of single-B plus by S&P. It will cover European windstorm in Belgium, .......

    News Round-up 18 July 2011

  • Regulatory divergence

    US CLO issuance accelerates as European market hesitates

    A lack of regulatory convergence is creating an uneven playing field for issuers of US and European CLOs. While the US primary CLO market continues to gain momentum, European issuance remains moribund.

    June was the most active month since the global financial crisis for US primary CLOs, with new issuance totalling US$2.3bn. Managers including GSO Capital Partners, Carlyle Investment Management, .......

    News Analysis 18 July 2011

  • US CRE CDO delinquencies post largest-ever drop

    Delinquencies for US CRE CDOs saw their largest decline in almost four years, according to the latest index results from Fitch.

    Late-pays declined significantly to 12.6% in June from 14.1% in May, representing the largest monthly drop since Fitch began tracking CRE CDO delinquencies in October 2007. Only two new delinquent assets were reported last month.

    "Much of last month's .......

    News Round-up 15 July 2011

  • Equity sellers surprise CLO market

    While mezz trading has slipped away, the European CLO market has seen a wave of equity sales this week, with mixed trading levels. The reasons behind the spike in activity remain unclear and it has left several traders slightly bemused.

    One trader explains: "It has really been quite a hard market to read for the past few days. The main .......

    Market Reports 15 July 2011

  • Roadmap for adoption

    Paul Middleton and Simon Rees-Goddard, vps at Sapient Global Markets, answer SCI's questions

    Q: How did Sapient Global Markets become involved in the structured credit market?
    SRG:     Sapient Global Markets has been working with institutions involved in structured credit for over 20 years. Our unique perspective - born from being closely aligned with both market participants and system providers, intermediaries and regulatory bodies - enables us to provide a differentiated service to clients that .......

    Provider Profile 15 July 2011
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