CDOs/CLOs

Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings on 247 classes from 195 corporate-backed

Fitch Ratings withdrew the 'CAM2' CDO asset manager rating assigned to Cohen & Co. Financial Management as a manager of CDOs backed by trust preferred securities or TruPS.

In recent months, portfolio managers of cash flow CLO vehicles have been faced with the unenviable task of keeping their CLOs afloat in an environment in which bank loan prices in the global loan markets have declined to unprecedented levels. This task has become increasingly difficult, due in large part to certain provisions in the underlying CLO documentation that, in today's illiquid market, no longer operate as intended. At a time when it is more important than ever for managers to actively manage the credit risk in their CLO portfolios, CLO managers have suddenly found their hands tied by provisions that, while initially conceived to safeguard the credit quality of CLO portfolios, now serve as a disincentive for managers to replace credit impaired loans with stronger ones. This article will examine the dilemma confronting CLO managers who wish to improve their portfolios by trading rapidly deteriorating loans for better-performing so-called "deep discount" loans.

Over the last year, laissez-faire has become seriously dated.

Leveraged loan investors are in an uproar over the fees they pay to obtain a credit estimate — a private rating on an individual loan — from Moody’s Investors Service.

Avenue Capital Group, a New York-based hedge fund founded by Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, has decided not to sell its high yield bond and leveraged loan division due to the recent rally in the markets.

Some European CLO transactions may be susceptible to undercollateralization event of default triggers (EoD triggers) if leveraged loan prices continue at depressed levels and cumulative defaults reach 25% over the next two years, according to Fitch Ratings.

NewOak Capital hired Malay Bansal, the former head of CRE CDOs at Merrill Lynch, as a managing director in CMBS.

Eighteen financial institutions have jointly sued MBIA over splitting its business in earlier this year, according to report from Dow Jones.

LAS VEGAS -- Private-equity-backed companies with strong credit profiles are generally on the sidelines of the financing markets, hoping that the continuing stabilization of the credit markets will save them money on refinancing transactions.