ABS

  • Container ABS ratings ceiling mooted

    New US container ABS transactions are seeing a resurgence following a three-year lull, Fitch notes. But the agency warns that the sector remains susceptible to a high degree of systemic, industry and specific credit risks.

    Fitch expects more new container deals over the course of this year as economic growth returns and industry funding needs increase. Performance of existing container .......

    News Round-up 15 February 2012

  • SF vet joins Analysis

    John Richard has joined Analysis Group as an affiliate. Richard's investment expertise spans unsecured corporate credit and securitisations. He was a founder of the distressed CMBS Taurus Horizon Fund and previously served at State Street Global Advisors as a senior fixed income portfolio manager.

    .......

    Job Swaps 15 February 2012

  • Proprietary credit scores tested against FICO

    S&P recently compared the relative value of proprietary credit scores with FICO scores to see which was better at gauging the future performance of subprime auto ABS transactions.

    FICO scores are common measures of creditworthiness, but they primarily reflect borrowers' prior credit behaviour. According to Amy Martin, a senior director in S&P's ABS ratings group, many subprime auto finance companies .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Mystic Re III on the blocks

    Aon Benfield Securities and Swiss Re Capital Markets are marketing the third deal from Liberty Mutual's Mystic Re catastrophe bond programme, the first since 2009. The two-tranche deal will be based on the ultimate net losses of the ceding insurer from US hurricanes and earthquakes, including fire following, on a per-occurrence basis.

    Mystic Re III's series 2012-1 class A notes .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Legal team moves on

    Chapman and Cutler has recruited six partners for its newly-established office in Washington DC. Felicia Graham, Douglas Madsen, Michael Mitchell, Mark Riccardi, Craig Fishman and Rachel George all join from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

    All six attorneys have significant structured finance practices. Graham represents clients in ABCP transactions, asset-backed financings and structured products. She also has a longstanding practice as .......

    Job Swaps 14 February 2012

  • Cat bonds on the up

    Thierry Berthold, co-head of insurance and European structur...

    There is good reason to be optimistic for the catastrophe bond market in 2012, particularly in Europe. Asset managers are showing an increasing willingness to accept cat bonds as a viable asset class and the increase in new capital via dedicated ILS funds is likely to continue, as experienced in 2011.

    This should maintain the virtuous circle, with more capital .......

    Talking Point 10 February 2012

  • Latest Queen Street issue marketing

    Munich Re is in the market with its latest catastrophe bond - the US$75m Queen Street V Re. Rated single-B plus by S&P, the notes will be exposed to major North Atlantic hurricane risk in selected US states between April 2012 and March 2015 and major European windstorms between October 2012 and March 2015.

    Munich Re will be the cedant .......

    News Round-up 10 February 2012

  • FFELP SLABS ratings lowered

    S&P has lowered its ratings on 87 classes of bonds from 29 FFELP student loan ABS transactions issued between 2003 and 2007 by Sallie Mae. At the same time, the agency affirmed its ratings on 50 senior classes of bonds from the same transactions. It also removed its ratings on all the classes from credit watch, where they were placed .......

    News Round-up 8 February 2012

  • Kibou doubles up

    The Japanese earthquake catastrophe bond Kibou has closed at twice the originally envisaged size. The deal issued on behalf of risk counterparty Hannover Re and reinsurer Zenkyoren - Japan's National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives - finished up at U$300m having begun marketing at US$150m (SCI 16 January 2012).

    Kibou's single tranche series 2012-1 class A notes priced at .......

    News Round-up 7 February 2012

  • Embarcadero Re closes

    The second catastrophe bond from the California Earthquake Authority's (CEA) Embarcadero Re programme (SCI 20 January 2012) has closed.

    The single-tranche US$150m transaction priced at 725bp over Treasury money market funds. S&P has rated the deal double-B minus.

    Embarcadero Re series 2012-I is based on CEA's ultimate net losses. CEA policies do not cover certain perils usually included in earthquake .......

    News Round-up 7 February 2012

  • Enterprise sale boosts Unique bonds

    Enterprise Inns has sold 15 pubs, located across the west and south east of England, for £23m to Fullers based on a multiple-to-net income of 13.5x. Given that the pubs appear to have been bought for their trading potential rather than as a real estate play, the move is expected to help improve pub valuations outside of London.

    Although Enterprise .......

    News Round-up 3 February 2012

  • Stable outlook for utility tariff bonds

    Fitch is maintaining a stable rating outlook for US utility tariff bonds in 2012, despite potential declines in consumption due to continued recessionary impacts. The agency says that to date Fitch-rated tariff bonds are performing within expectations. This is largely due to structural features inherent in utility tariff ABS transactions, like the true-up mechanism and sub-account withdrawals, which have been .......

    News Round-up 2 February 2012

  • Ibis Re closes upsized

    Assurant's Ibis Re II series 2012-1 (SCI 18 January 2012) US hurricane catastrophe bond has closed. The deal's class A notes were upsized to US$100m from an initial US$70m, while the class Bs came in as expected at US$30m.

    The class A notes priced at 835bp over Treasury money market funds and the class Bs at 1350bp over. S&P rated .......

    News Round-up 31 January 2012

  • Vitality III closes

    The third medical benefit claims ILS, Vitality Re III 2012-1 (SCI 13 January 2012), has closed. The two tranche deal finished as expected with US$105m of class A notes rated triple-B plus by S&P and US$45m of class B notes rated double-B plus.

    The class A notes priced at 420bp over Treasury money market funds. The class Bs came in .......

    News Round-up 26 January 2012

  • Ex-Lloyds ceo joins advisory

    Eric Daniels has joined StormHarbour as a principal and senior advisor. Daniels retired from Lloyds Banking Group last year after seven years as ceo.

    Daniels will provide strategic advice and insight to StormHarbour's issuer and investor clients and to the firm's senior leadership team. He will be based in London.

    .......

    Job Swaps 26 January 2012

  • Credit card delinquencies hit new lows

    US credit card charge-offs declined by 34bp in December to 5.04%, according to Moody's latest credit card indices. Also during the month delinquencies fell to new record lows, pointing to further declines in charge-offs in the months ahead.

    Moody's expects the charge-off rate to continue to fall well into the coming year, eventually moving to below 4% by the end .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2012

  • Second Embarcadero Re marketing

    The latest catastrophe bond from the California Earthquake Authority's (CEA) Embarcadero Re programme is being marketed by Deutsche Bank. The series 2012-I deal is again a single-tranche offering targeting US$150m with a preliminary ratings from S&P of double-B minus.

    Embarcadero Re is based on CEA's ultimate net losses. CEA policies do not cover certain perils usually included in earthquake cat .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Securitisation lawyer hired

    Deborah Festa has joined Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy as a partner in its Los Angeles office. She joins from O'Melveny & Myers, where she was also a partner.

    Festa's practice covers securitisations, complex domestic and off-shore financing arrangements in various asset classes, and cash flow, market value and synthetic CLO transactions. Prior to O'Melveny & Myers she served as an .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • FFELP SLABS targeted

    Moody's has issued an RFC on a proposed update to the cashflow assumptions it uses when rating FFELP student loan securitisations. If implemented, the agency warns that it would expect to downgrade the ratings of approximately US$20bn of outstanding FFELP student-loan backed transactions - about 10% of the FFELP securities it rates.

    The key cashflow assumptions Moody's proposes updating are .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Low loss rates predicted for auto ABS

    Losses fell for both prime and subprime US auto loan ABS last month. Fitch expects more of the same for the first half of 2012, based on its latest index results for the sector.

    Performance has been supported by two consecutive months of stronger used vehicle values and some positive economic data in the US. With these factors supporting asset .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • SEC fines UBS investment arm

    The US SEC has charged UBS Global Asset Management with failing to properly price securities in three mutual funds it managed, resulting in a misstatement to investors of the NAVs of those funds.

    The misconduct was discovered during an SEC investigation, triggered by a referral from SEC examiners. The investigation determined that during a two-week period the company did not .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012
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