Asset Securitization Report articles from December 2004

Asset Securitization Report archives from December 2004

Whispers.(appointments)
December 6, 2004... Barclays Capital recently hired the nine-person CDO correlation trading team from Citigroup Global Markets. The team, headed by Managing Director Doug Warren, consists of Geoff Gentile, Ted Husveth, Jonathan Koerner, Aleksandr Rabiner, Alex...

TSI vehicle drives Volkswagen spreads tighter.(True Sale Initiative)
December 6, 2004... Market pundits doubting the efficiency of the German True Sale Initiative need only reference Volkswagen Bank's latest auto-loan securitization, Driver One GmbH. The deal, which priced last week, marked the first time auto paper has broken...

Latvia readies RMBS premiere.(Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities)
December 6, 2004... By the end of last week, the Baltic country of Latvia was expected to have priced an RMBS for about $63.6 million, the first of its kind in Central Europe, according to sources. Wachovia Securities is the arranger and Moody's Investors Service...

Jobs Creation Act spurs HELOCs.(mortgage backed securities)(Real estate mortgage investment conduits)
December 6, 2004... Jan. 1, 2005 marks the implementation of modifications in the American Jobs Creation Act 2004 relating to REMIC rules permitting the securitization of HELOC loans and reverse mortgages. Analysts speculated that the recent changes are expected...

JPMorgan revamps banking team for 2005.
December 6, 2004... Having seen its standing in the U.S. ABS league tables dip in 2004, JPMorgan Securities has revamped its structured finance group, combining the asset-backed and mortgage backed teams under new management. The recent move to name Christine Cole...

Primary slows to just over $6 billion.(asset backed securities)
December 6, 2004... The week back from the Thanksgiving holiday proved to be a relatively slow one in the U.S. ABS primary market, leaving investors with just over $6.1 billion in new issues to digest as of last Thursday evening. The auto sector accounted for...

GMAC prices its first double-B class to strong demand: D class five times oversold.(General Motors Acceptance Corp.)
December 6, 2004... General Motors Acceptance Corp., completed last week a $2.5 billion auto ABS with an unusual feature: a below investment grade rated D-tranche via Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and SG Corporate & Invest-ment Banking, The $25.9...

Fortis' U.S. arm expands with two CDOs in the wings.(Collateralized debt obligations)
December 6, 2004... Fortis Investments has created a U.S. ABS team as part of its U.S. fixed-income and structured credit unit and plans to offer two CDOs before the end of the year, company sources said. Will Braman, U.S. CEO of Fortis, said both of the deals...

GE Capital enters small equipment arena.(General Electric Co.)
December 6, 2004... Capital Corp. is currently shopping its first term ABS transaction backed primarily by small ticket equipment leases, and originated through GE's vendor relationships rather than through GE's own financing operations. Deutsche Bank...

Insurance ABS flowers at year's end.
December 6, 2004... Patrons' Legacy has quietly priced its sixth securitization of a pool backed by life insurance policies and life annuities. All of these transactions - dubbed LILACs - have been privately placed via UBS. The $140 million transaction matures...

Fitch jumps on Delta deals midflight.
December 6, 2004... Investors in several Delta Airlines Inc. EETC and ETC transactions were successful in securing an additional rating from Fitch Ratings on several classes in five separate transactions, the rating agency announced last week. The rating...

Uncertainty leads to active two-way flows last week.
December 6, 2004... Mortgages experienced active two-way flows last week, as the start of the week saw better buying on the Treasury sell-off. As has been stated many times, mortgage players have plenty of cash currently, and tend to be strong buyers when the...

Conforming limits rise once again.(Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight )
December 6, 2004... Last Tuesday the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) announced that the 2005 single-family GSE conforming loan limit would rise roughly $26,000 to $359,650 from $333,700 - a 7.8% increase. By contrast, last year's rise was...

Agencies report strong gains in third quarter home prices.(Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight released its Home Price Index )
December 6, 2004... The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight released its Home Price Index last Tuesday, reporting that average home prices in the U.S. for the third quarter rose 12.97% from 3Q03 - the highest increase in 25 years. For the quarter, OFHEO...

U.K. credit card interchange fees face the axe.
December 6, 2004... The U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) moved closer to reaching a decision on the interchange fees charged to merchants and retailers by credit card companies for credit card purchases. Last month OFT issued a statement of its objections on the...

U.K. life deals enjoy a renaissance.
December 6, 2004... U.K. life insurer, Friends Provident is the latest insurer to tap the market with a GBP380 million ($726 million) embedded-value securitization. The deal follows the Norwich Union Life & Pensions Limited GBP200 million securitization of future...

Gazprom export notes seen unharmed by acquisitive drive.
December 6, 2004... Russia's OAO Gazprom may be entering an epic expansion binge, but, for now, analysts are not worrying about its impact on the $1.25 billion in secured export notes maturing in 2020. The company has announced that it will bid for...

Fitch and Moody's diverge on Peru telecom deal.(Moody's Investor Service)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Moody's Investors Service recently downgraded roughly $35 million outstanding of a securitization originated by Telefonica del Peru to Ba2' from Baa3,' making the deal a fallen angel. The transaction has fared much better with Fitch Ratings,...

KFB scores blowout with European investors.(Korea First Bank)
December 6, 2004... Korea First Bank (KFB) last week priced its third cross-border MBS of 2004 and, as was the case with its debut in March (see ASR, 4/5/04), the deal proved hugely popular with overseas buyers. It priced at Euribor plus 21 basis points. BNP...

Announcement.
December 13, 2004... Due to our annual holiday publishing break, the next issue of ASR will be Jan. 10, 2005 Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.asreport.com

Whispers.(Hypo Vereinsbank)
December 13, 2004... With two weeks left in the year, Citigroup Global Markets will seemingly capture the top spot in the U.S. ABS league tables for the second year in a row, according to data maintained by Thomson Financial. Through last Wednesday, Citigroup had...

Student loan ABS: the wildcard for 2005 volume.
December 13, 2004... As the clock winds down on a hulking year for ABS, the eyes of analysts and bankers are turning toward 2005, and expectations are mixed. As market participants make their calls for the New Year, the one asset class that has garnered the most...

Informed bids saught in CDO secondary.(Collateralized Debt Obligation )
December 13, 2004... With profit taking trades underway in current trading activity, it appears the secondary CDO market has developed into more than a place to shop around a bid list. And in the words of many CDO researchers, 2004 will go down as the year this...

2004: A banner year for Euro ABS.
December 13, 2004... The European securitization market prepares to exit another landmark year, with industry estimates of 205 billion ($272 billion) being placed this year - accounting for a 15% increase over volumes recorded at year-end 2003. Although...

Lehman launches revamps investor research tools.(Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Lehman Brothers ABS research has added new tools to its LehmanLive online monitoring system, including enhancing its Lehman ABS Index. One of those is a new option-adjusted spread analysis tool for home equity securitizations, and the other is...

New York City Bar Association adds structured finance group.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... The New York City Bar Association has created a Structured Finance committee. Craig Wolson, partner with Duane Morris in New York and the committee's first chairman, is currently recruiting prospective members from within the NYCBA's membership...

ABS primary market prices over $10 billion.(Asset backed securities)
December 13, 2004... The U.S. ABS market had a solid week to price over $10 billion as investors rushed to spend money that has been sitting on the sidelines ahead of the New Year. Aegis Mortgage was in the market with a $976 million offering backed by home...

E*Trade vehicle takes to land and sea.
December 13, 2004... E*Trade, the consumer finance arm of E*Trade Bank, has priced a $300.5 million offering backed by both recreational and marine vehicle collateral originated by Ganis Credit Corp., which will be the first transaction from the issuer to contain...

Correction:.(Correction Notice)
December 13, 2004... In an article titled Italy and Spain keep European RMBS investors busy, Standard & Poor's was incorrectly identified as having rated the FL Finance Srl transaction. The rating agencies on the deal were Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors...

GMAC-RFC finds its niche in an interest-only driven market.(General Motors Acceptance Corp-Residential Funding Corporation)
December 13, 2004... Although General Motors Acceptance Corp.'s mortgage lending unit GMAC-RFC's percentage of the market share has dropped this year, it expects to return to its lofty issuance levels of years past. "This is a cyclical industry," said Managing...

BCBG makes debut with bespoke transaction.(BCBG Max Azria Group)
December 13, 2004... Upscale fashion house BCBG Max Azria recently priced a $53 million securitization backed by trademarks on the company's portfolio of eight brands and the royalties associated with their licensing. The deal is comprised of a triple-A rated...

First Colony launches River Lake II.
December 13, 2004... First Colony Life Insurance Company recently completed the first triple-X securitization off of its River Lake II special purpose insurance company. Lehman Brothers led the $300 million offering. The transaction was rated by both Moody's...

Strong buying emerges following employment report.(Mortgage Backed Securities )
December 13, 2004... Mortgages rebounded last week following the weaker than expected non-farm payrolls report. Real money buying emerged, along with continued support from overseas banks, to propel prices higher and spreads tighter, particularly lower coupons....

MBS market prepares for rising rates.(Mortgage Backed Securities)
December 13, 2004... Although technicals in the mortgage market are still considered positive and the housing sector remains robust, MBS market participants are beginning to prepare for the eventuality of rising rates and the accompanying risks. The diminishing...

Structured MBS market focuses on new products with curve flattening.(Mortgage Backed Securities )
December 13, 2004... In CMO land, analysts anticipate that although originations in the sector will dip in 2005, it would remain robust relative to the issuance in the mortgage market as a whole, which is expected to decline significantly. "The spread that...

S&P sets timelines for submission of RMBS deal docs.(Standard & Poor's Corp.)(residential mortgage backed securities)
December 13, 2004... Standard & Poor's has set guidelines for the submission by issuers of marketing materials and applicable operative documents for RMBS deals, noting that these documents had previously been distributed to the rating agency closer to the...

Cassa Depositi launches inaugural covered bond.
December 13, 2004... Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) is expected to launch its inaugural Italian covered bonds deal early next year, but it's unlikely to provide a satisfactory blueprint for Italian issuers who, for sometime, have been looking to edge into the...

Commodities ABS placed privately in Europe.
December 13, 2004... SG Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB) completed the $325 million commodity securitization conduit program for Trafigura Beheer BV, backed by oil and metal export receivables through the private placement market last month. Sources at the...

Looking forward to EM in 2005.(emerging market )
December 13, 2004... The focus of more than few cross-border players in emerging market structured finance made a hemispheric shift in the latter half of 2004 from Latin America to Russia and the Middle East, namely Turkey. It wasn't that Latin American activity...

Singapore government lines up SME deal.(small and medium sized entities )
December 13, 2004... The Government of Singapore is the latest Asian government to be lured by the benefits of securitization. According to sources familiar with the mandate, SPRING, the state-controlled agency that supports the financing needs of small and medium...