CDOs/CLOs

Babson Capital Management has chosen Robert Little to head its real estate finance group (REFG) at the end of 2008, where he will assume oversight of a $22 billion portfolio.

M&T Bank Corp. is suing Deutsche Bank AG for $82 million, saying the Frankfurt company's securities unit sold CDOs that proved an unsound investment.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's (SIFMA) credit rating agency task force expressed concern regarding the implications of a proposal presented by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week at an open meeting hosted by the commission.

Babson Capital Europe appointed Andrew Godson as head of distribution.

At a time when most large investment banks are slashing their fixed-income teams, Cantor Fitzgerald is making a hiring push in its debt capital markets group. Shawn Matthews, who heads the group and is based in New York, runs a sales and trading desk that already boasts more than 200 salesmen and traders. Bank Loan Report sat down with Matthews recently to discuss the group's expansion.

The impending summer slowdown is nothing new for the CDO market, which has already seen a slow pace of issuance for almost a year now.

Activity may be down sharply in CDOs, but there could be early signs of life returning to the CLO market, which in turn may signal a pickup in demand for leveraged loans in coming months, according to a market participant who is involved with trust services for the securitization market.

The exit of CDO chiefs from the major investment banks continue. ASR confirmed that Sebastiano Riva, the co-head of Lehman Brother's CLO group, has left the firm.

Credit Suisse recently reorganized its structured products group and CDO group. These changes come after the firm shut down origination activity, cut positions and reduced its risk exposure over the past year, according to an internal memo at the bank.

Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets launched its latest SME CLO. This is the bank's fourth balance sheet securitization from its commercial loan book.