Asset Securitization Report articles from October 2004

Asset Securitization Report archives from October 2004

Whispers.
October 4, 2004... The American Securitization Forum officially announced that its ASF 2005 conference will be held January 25 through January 26 at the Fairmount Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Ariz. Once again, the conference will feature small panel...

Citigroup reclaims U.S. ABS underwriting lead heading into 4Q04.(Asset backed securities)
October 4, 2004... Citigroup Global Markets has reclaimed its lead in the U.S. ABS league tables, according to preliminary data maintained by Thomson Financial, outpacing its competitors by almost a two-to-one margin in the third quarter. The $32.6 billion of...

Kazakh banks draw DPR devotees EBRD not among the fans.(European Bank of Reconstruction and Development)(diversified payment rights)
October 4, 2004... With a national economy on steroids, an apparently supportive government, and positive ratings actions, the three leading banks in Kazakhstan are ripe for securitizing their electronic money flows, according to sources. Arrangers are pitching,...

FNMA seen as buyer despite OFHEO.(Federal National Mortgage Association and Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight )
October 4, 2004... Last week Fannie Mae's board of directors said that it agreed to increase its capital reserves to maintain a 30% target surplus over the regulatory minimum as per the request of its regulatory body, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise...

InterStar puts a NIM on the barby.(Net interest margin)
October 4, 2004... Net interest margin (NIM) mortgage securitizations may be commonplace in the U.S., and are even considered a driving force in the home equity sector's boom in recent years, but other markets have been slow to catch on. Given how Australia has...

FASB delays, broadens scope of EITF 03-1.(Financial Accounting Standards Board )
October 4, 2004... Last week the Financial Accounting Standards Board decided to expand the scope of the proposed implementation of sections of the Emerging Issues Task Force 03-1 (The Meaning of Other-Than Temporary Impairment and its Application to Certain...

U.S. ABS primary slows ahead of Boca.(Asset backed securities )
October 4, 2004... The U.S. ABS primary market slowed considerably last week when held up against the heavy volume witnessed in the preceding weeks. Just over $10 billion was slated to price as of Thursday evening, compared with over $20 billion the week prior....

Dell makes servicing debut: Dude, you're getting a servicer.
October 4, 2004... Dell Financial Services, a joint-owned venture of Dell and The CIT Group Inc., has taken the reins as master servicer in CIT's recently priced CITEC 2004-DFS equipment-backed offering, a first for the financing arm of the computer giant. ...

Merrill skyrockets to top of CDO market heading into 4Q04.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Merrill Lynch increased a staggering 422%, versus the same period last year, taking the number one spot with $9.24 billion of CDO product placed. In fact, Merrill doubled its nearest competitor and accounted for 17.8% of the market. Through the...

Tight spreads unleash CDO innovations.(Collateralized debt obligations)
October 4, 2004... Granted spread tightening has been a factor across numerous asset-backed markets but none have responded with the panache that the CDO market has. Three innovations have grown in popularity this year, including a brassy new structure that...

FNANB quashes investor concern with $1 billion in cash.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... In an unusual move to douse investors' fears over deteriorating receivables in two First North American National Bank deals, Banc of America Securities recently put up a $ 1 billion irrevocable letter of credit to ensure that investors are made...

GMAC snacks on IP asset class.
October 4, 2004... Loan guarantor IP Innovations Financial Services's latest deal supporting a trademark-based loan to Wise Foods underwritten by GMAC Commercial Finance may be an indication of the growing acceptance of intellectual property as a viable, albeit...

UCC Capital: Dressing up private finance in Oscar de la Renta.
October 4, 2004... When an A-list celebrity dons new garb, it's been said that designer's currency, or status, in the fashion world triples. But when fashion icon Oscar de la Renta executes a financial transaction even institutional investors start to appear...

MBS market faces uncertainty about FNMA's accounting issues.(Mortgage backed securities)
October 4, 2004... Worries about yields dropping below 4% were replaced last week by concerns about Fannie Mae and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's (OFHEO) accounting probe. While the sector saw better profit-taking, there was buying from...

Bear Stearns outpaces UBS this time around.
October 4, 2004... Bear Stearns is topping the preliminary year-to-date manager activity rankings for agency and non-agency MBS, according to preliminary Thomson Financial league tables, displacing perennial leading MBS underwriter UBS. Bear Stearns grabbed...

MBS analysts re-examine the carry trade.(Mortgage backed securities)
October 4, 2004... With bank demand not as aggressive compared to last year, analysts are questioning whether the carry trade could be as compelling as it had been in the past, and have concluded that bank demand for mortgages would probably not return to the...

Robust fourth quarter predicted.
October 4, 2004... Europe's fourth-quarter ABS pipeline is building, with analyst reports saying up to 76 ($94.4 billion) in issuance is already in the works. Merrill Lynch researchers said the pipeline includes 37 billion ($45.9) of RMBS, 10 billion ($12.4...

Bigger than it looks: A CLO first stands out.(Collateralized Loan Obligation)
October 4, 2004... Even amid strong supply, a relatively small deal - a synthetic CLO of U.K. project finance loans offering GBP31.75 million ($57 million) in funded notes - seemed to be the one prompting the most buzz in the European market last week, with...

Brazil's MSF appears well equipped to survive DVI debacle.
October 4, 2004... Brazil's MSF Funding continues to perform well, untroubled by the bankruptcy that has hobbled the originator's parent, DVI. Last week, Standard & Poor's removed the ratings of four tranches from creditwatch negative. Class A notes, with a...

Cagamas readies first Malaysian RMBS.
October 4, 2004... Malaysia's government-controlled secondary mortgage company, Cagamas, has launched what will be the country's first RMBS and its largest securitization to date. Local firms Aseambankers, Commerce International Merchant Bankers plus...

Korea First Bank selects unheralded three for next MBS.
October 4, 2004... Korea First Bank (KFB) has selected three supposedly less-established firms - BNP Paribas, Calyon Securities and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - to jointly underwrite its third cross-border mortgage-backed deal. The involvement of RBS came...

Whispers.
October 11, 2004... Neil McPherson has left his position as managing director and senior strategist, group head of ABS research at Credit Suisse First Boston, to head the ABS syndicate desk at ABN AMRO. Taking over McPherson's responsibilities will be Director Rod...

ABS market talk bps and balance sheets in Boca Raton.(Asset backed securities)
October 11, 2004... For the second year running, the ABS hordes will descend upon Boca Raton, Fla., for four days of networking, panel discussions - and golf. Upwards of 2,500 delegates are expected to show up at the Boca Raton Resort & Club this week for...

LatAm 3Q04 supply focused on DPRs.(Latin America: Detailed Project Report)
October 11, 2004... News centers on PDVSA/Gazprom Latin American exporters shunned cross-border securitization in the third quarter and banks picked up some of the slack. Despite anxieties earlier in the year, interest rates remained amenable to straight...

CDO growth story continues unfolding.
October 11, 2004... The second annual CDO Conference sponsored by The Bond Market Association served as the unofficial kickoff to conference season for the securitization markets. The day's platform documented growth in product types - namely trust preferred,...

Moody's focuses on governance.
October 11, 2004... Moody's Investors Service plans to release its first Transaction Governance Assessments report before the year is through. The report represents the rating agency's opinion of the level of oversight, controls and procedures put in place to...

Numerous, small deals market in pre-conference primary ABS market.(Asset backed securities)
October 11, 2004... The U.S. ABS market saw just over $11 billion in new-issue ABS supply last week, ahead of this week's ABS East conference, of which just $8.5 billion had priced as of Thursday's market close. While the home equity sector continued its year-long...

Maxim Group brings inaugural CDO.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Leading CDO underwriter Merrill Lynch is bringing the inaugural CDO for a unit of New York-based Maxim Group LLC in the coming weeks, a $753 million high-grade structured finance deal, named Jupiter CDO I, sources reported. The transaction is...

CDO secondary market thirsty for new collateral.(Collateralized debt obligations)
October 11, 2004... CDO spreads are tight and it appears major U.S. insurance companies have sold all the distressed collateral they care to let go of at this point, according to the industry's secondary traders last week. Yet, what sounds like a dour situation is...

Structured settlement deal is first term lead for DZ Bank.
October 11, 2004... Underwriter DZ Financial Markets recently completed a $71 million term securitization for Settlement Capital Corp., marking this as the first term securitization executed by DZ Bank's U.S. subsidiary, said Dominick Ruggiero, vice president of...

Buyers emerge on recent cheapening.(Mortgages)
October 11, 2004... Despite Friday's looming payrolls report, money managers, banks, insurance companies, dealers, and others were active buyers of mortgages. This was due in part to the recent cheapening, the beginning of a new quarter, and substantial cash...

Declining fixed-rate supply keeps MBS spreads tight.(Mortgage backed securities)
October 11, 2004... Even with the GSEs struggling with accounting issues and potential accounting regulations hitting banks, supply and demand dynamics in the MBS market have not gone haywire. In fact, MBS spreads have remained "stubbornly tight," analysts said....

MBS fixed-rates decline, while ARMs rise.(Mortgage Backed Securities)(Adjustable Rate Mortgage )(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... While outstanding 30-year MBS supply has been declining in the past two years, until this year, the supply from other fixed-rate MBS sectors has filled in the gap, said a recent report by Bear Stearns. For instance, the outstanding 30-year MBS...

Brazil's Santander snags Furnas mandate for R$336m fund.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Brazilian state power giant Furnas Centrais Eletricas is in the market with a R$336 million ($119 million) receivables investment fund (FIDCs) backed by a mix of three loans that the company was keen to get off its books, according to a source...

Reconciled to rate hike, Mexican originators return in Q3.
October 11, 2004... Mexico's market sprang back to life in the third quarter, as issuers and investors alike reconciled themselves to steeper interest rates, churning out more floaters priced against the shortest-term benchmarks. "Investment funds want paper that...

Innovations fuel Europe's feverish CDO supply.(Collateralized debt obligations)
October 11, 2004... One of several innovations that analysts from Standard & Poor's will be highlighting at a press briefing Tuesday will be the first CDO-cubed transaction Europe is expected to see in the near term. Perry Inglis and Simon Collingridge,...

U.S. issuers tap into busy European market.
October 11, 2004... Last week marked the return of several U.S. issuers to the European market. Sallie Mae priced a student loan deal, series 2004-10, via Credit Suisse First Boston, which included Euro and Sterling denominated notes mixed in with its U.S. Dollar...

Looking for relative value in a Basel II world.(Brief Article)
October 11, 2004... Highly rated ABS will be among the big winners under Basel II, Morgan Stanley researchers said in a report last week. The report offered a detailed analysis of how Basel II would impact spreads in the fixed-income market. "What we're...

Records fall as Asia securitization volumes top debt in Japan.
October 11, 2004... Aided by a glut of deals in September, issuance for the fiscal half year in Japan was up 35% from last year, reaching 2.37 trillion ($21.3 billion). As well as establishing a record for a fiscal half, securitization volumes topped straight debt...

Whispers.
October 18, 2004... Kieran McShane has left Moodys Investors Service to take a position in the investor relations department at FSA. He had been at Moody's for four years where he was a vice president at the product marketing group. The American...

ABS East notches record attendance: Talk turns on tight spreads, regulators and mortgage products.(Asset backed securities)
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA - With a record 2,600 delegates in attendance, Information Management Network hosted its tenth annual ABS East conference last week. While the rest of the country was gripped by the run-up to the election, securitization players...

Saber lands Wisconsin mandate: Utility deal follows in N.J. and Texas's footsteps.(Saber Partners )
October 18, 2004... Wisconsin is the latest state to hire financial advisor Saber Partners to oversee an upcoming public utility securitization program, in the hopes of reducing pricing levels for the proposed deals and to drive the underwriters it hires to go the...

Moody's enters Russian future flow.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Moody's Investors Service is not going to let the promise of Russian future flows slip away. Absent from the blowout $1.25 billion export deal issued by oil giant Gazprom in July, the agency is now rating what looks to become the second future...

Origen Financial raises the bar on MH.
October 18, 2004... Earlier this year, Origen Financial met the rating agencies' tough new stance on credit enhancement in the manufactured housing sector with a fresh infusion of equity capital. Since February, the lender has been in the market twice, and plans...

ABS subbuyers hung up on IOs, California.(Asset backed securities)
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - Home price appreciation and the prevalence of IO loans and ARMs in subprime home equity ABS pools dominated the discussion throughout the Investing in Subordinates investor panel at Information Management Network's ABS East...

ABCP investors vent at IMN conference.
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - Investors sounded off on the increasing amount of extendable paper being offered in the ABCP market during a morning panel discussion at Information Management Network's (IMN) third annual Investors' Conference on ABCP and...

Predatory regulation - where's the next Georgia?
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - The subprime mortgage market has enjoyed a year of increased growth in the face of rising interest rates. But stringent new regulatory legislation threatens to undercut nearly all issuers in the sector. This is of particular...

ABS pricing strategies move to mainstream consciousness.(Asset backed securities )
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - Growth in the market, and the rise in market-value CDO issuance combined with some fund failures had many Information Management Network ABS East conference attendees discussing pricing transparency in the market. Although...

Drought of CDO collateral tops concerns.(Collateralized debt obligations )
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - In addition to searching for CDO collateral, asset managers are searching for word on the next trouble spot in the CDO market, panelists speaking at Information Management Network's ABS East said last week. While overall the...

Panelists bullish on aircraft ABS despite sector's woes.(asset backed securities)
October 18, 2004... BOCA RATON, FLA. - The double-digit yields and increasing liquidity of senior pooled aircraft tranches are turning heads in the ABS market. In fact, they may be attractive enough for investors to look the other way when it comes to the rather...

Westwood carves niches in finance.
October 18, 2004... In just under a decade since its inception, New York-based investment banking boutique Westwood Capital has managed to not only focus its business on traditional M&A and corporate finance transaction services, but also on more specialized...

Analysts, once again, redefine Alt-A.
October 18, 2004... With mortgage origination processes changing markedly even compared to just a few years back, the definition of credit has evolved. One sector, in particular, that has been affected by these changes is Alt-A collateral, where history can no...

Germany paves legal way for a busy 2005.
October 18, 2004... Although the 13 banks participating in the German true sale initiative completed the groundwork on their securitization platform last month, a sluggish economy is likely to keep those banks from needing to securitize until next year, several...

Europe primarily focused on new deals.
October 18, 2004... European investors kept their attention focused on the primary market last week, with no let up in the deal flow expected anytime soon. Pending multi-currency RMBS deals included Paragon 8, a buy-to-let transaction worth the equivalent of...

Life insurers explore balance sheet options.
October 18, 2004... As structured finance grows , life insurance companies are entering into new terrain and looking into life embedded value securitizations in the U.K., as well as in the U.S. Getting a grip on the accounting issues that surround this asset class...

Blowout for first Malaysian RMBS.
October 18, 2004... Malaysian secondary mortgage company Cagamas completed the country's first RMBS last week. Although strong demand was anticipated for the M$1.6 billion ($421.1 million) issue, oversubscription of 5.6 times was better than anyone expected for...

HKMC peddles MBS to retail.(Brief Article)
October 18, 2004... Hong Kong Mortgage Corp. (HKMC), the government-controlled secondary mortgage agency, will launch on Oct.19 the third deal out of the Bauhinia special purpose vehicle. HSBC is arranging the HK$2 billion ($256 million) issue, and will act as...

Jurong Point Realty follows peers in Singapore CMBS.
October 18, 2004... Singapore-based Jurong Point Realty (JPR) will follow the example of other property developers like CapitaLand and Ascendas Real Estate by launching a CMBS offering. Local firm Overseas Chinese Banking Corp. is arranging the S$227 million...

Brazil's Furnas compresses FIDC marketing, others take their time.
October 18, 2004... At press time, Brazil's Furnas Centrais Eletricas was on the verge of closing its R$334 million ($116 million) receivables investment fund (FIDC), but the hulking power producer is not the only originator powering what's become a formidable ABS...

Whispers.
October 25, 2004... Diane Lam, director of non-Japan Asian structured finance ratings at Standard & Poor's, is leaving the firm. There with no details yet on where Lam - who has been at S&P for several years - will surface next. UCC Capital has named Ariel...

Metris back with first sr/sub deal since 2001.
October 25, 2004... After months of planning and discussions with rating agencies, The Metris Companies is finally set to bring its first senior/subordinated transaction of the year - and its first such structure in three years. The offering comes on the heels of...

FGIC moves into CDO secondary.(Collateralized debt obligations)
October 25, 2004... The newly hatched CDO group at Financial Guaranty Insurance Company closed its first transaction last week, providing secondary insurance to an investor on a CLO backed by senior secured loans. "We closed the secondary policy on the same...

New MBS products change landscape.(Mortgage backed securities)
October 25, 2004... New York - Panelists at the CPR & CDR Technologies 2004 Prepayment and Mortgage Credit Modeling and Strategy Conference held last week discussed whether new products currently proliferating in the mortgage sector - predominantly hybrid ARMs and...

U.S. ABS market rebounds in post-conference trading.(Asset backed securities)
October 25, 2004... After a week spent sunning at IMN's annual ABS East fete in Boca Raton, Fla., ABS market participants returned to the office to bear the fruit of four days of wining and dining. U.S. ABS primary issuance surged to price close to $12 billion as...

Latest issue from The Winter Group sizes up ABS opportunities.(Asset backed securities)
October 25, 2004... After closing its third CDO of the year last week, The Winter Group unit Terwin Money Management wrapped up its third CDO last week, an asset-backed transaction that appears to be the hallmark of this two year-old market participant. The firm...

Fitch launches Nth-to-Default Model as VECTOR model offshoot.
October 25, 2004... Fitch Ratings announced last week the launch of its Nth-to-Default Model now available for those seeking a tool to evaluate risks related to Nth-to-Default trades. Nth-to-Default trades are synthetic transactions where a credit event is...

Arrow planning to stay on ABS track.(Asset backed securities)
October 25, 2004... The upshot of Sallie Mae's recent acquisition of Arrow Financial Services on the consumer debt purchaser's securitization activities is still uncertain. However, Arrow Chief Financial Officer Michael Valentino intends to stay in the ABS game...

MBS flows steady as 10-year Treasury breaches 4%.(Mortgage backed securities)
October 25, 2004... Mortgages experienced modest two-way flows last week as the 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 4%. Servicers were good buyers in the lower coupons, while hedge funds and money managers were active both up and down the coupon stack seeking...

It's been said before, there is no housing bubble.
October 25, 2004... NEW YORK - The topic "Is there a mortgage bubble coming?" was once again tackled in last week's CPR & CDR Technologies conference on Prepayment and Mortgage Credit Modeling & Strategy. Based on Mortgage Bankers Association's most recent housing...

Discount speeds are driven by hybrid ARMs.(Adjustable Rate Mortgage)
October 25, 2004... The hybrid ARM product is currently readily available to borrowers at attractive rates versus the 30-year fixed sector - creating an additional refinancing incentive. This phenomenon has pushed discount prepayment speeds significantly upwards,...

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily European investors row with the primary flow.
October 25, 2004... The latest in a series of Spanish SME CLO transactions offers a new twist, prompting some market chatter last week. The deal helped contribute to a busy primary agenda that continues to dominate investor's attention. The unique variation on the...

Portuguese construction companies build unique deal.
October 25, 2004... Deutsche Bank Securities is in the market with a Portuguese future flow securitization that is believed to be a first of its kind. The 256.5 million deal is backed by the construction contracts on four major road projects in Portugal. The...

Read the fine print for RMBS deals.(Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities)(Brief Article)
October 25, 2004... European RMBS is increasingly being offered with a Basel II call option, researchers at Morgan Stanley report in a report last week, and if Basel II drives a more efficient RMBS structure - as market talk indicates - it might motivate issuers...

Two Brazilian power utilities ready a $250m-equivalent jolt.
October 25, 2004... More and more Brazilian power companies are warming up to receivables investment funds (FIDCs) as a funding vehicle. The Cataguazes group - made up of five electricity distributors - has a R$240 million ($84 million) fund on the horizon,...

Russian banking history constrains Rosbank future flow rating.
October 25, 2004... Fitch Ratings has weighed in on an upcoming credit card-backed transaction from Russia's Rosbank, rating the expected US$150 million, five-year deal B+'. Joint leads Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston were roadshowing the notes last...

Bank deals gear up to cross the Bosphorus, wrapped and unwrapped.
October 25, 2004... Turkey is keeping Standard Chartered busy this season. Well versed in Turkish future flows, the arranger is understood to have a mandate from each Turkiye Is Bankasi (Isbank) and Finansbank. The originators are pursuing different routes....

HK Mortgage prices inaugural retail MBS.
October 25, 2004... Hong Kong Mortgage Corpor-ation (HKMC), the territory's secondary mortgage agency established in 1997, has completed the latest deal from its Bauhinia MBS vehicle. HSBC arranged the HK$2 billion ($256.9 million) offering, acting as sole book...