CDOs/CLOs

MBIA has made a debut placement off its Mexican shelf, the first issuance program a guarantor has set up in pesos. The kickoff deal, for toll road operator Promotora y Administradora de Carreteras (Pacsa), came to 1.5 billion UDIS ($500 million), with 1.1 billion in senior notes wrapped by MBIA. That's just a nick in the five-year shelf, which is capped at Ps25 billion ($2.3 billion).

Last week Black Diamond Capital Management joined the growing list of U.S. firms looking for opportunities in the burgeoning European leveraged loan market. The firm announced it hired Peter Cannon as a managing director of its new European shop, Black Diamond GB, which will open June 1. Cannon most recently worked as a senior portfolio manager at RMF Investment Management (a subsidiary of Man Group), where he played a key role developing the firm's CDO business. He has also worked as a senior fund manager for Merrill Lynch Investment Management and as director of acquisition finance at Lloyds TSB. "We see the leveraged loan market in Europe as very robust with excellent growth prospects for us, and we believe that Peter Cannon is uniquely qualified to help us take our presence there to the next level," said Bill Bokos, senior managing director of Black Diamond, an alternative asset management firm with about $8 billion in assets under management. "We expect to be adding staff to build-out our effort in London in the near-term future."

The Public Service Commission of West Virginia recently approved a plan that would allow Allegheny Power to use ABS to finance an emissions control facility at a West Virginia plant.

The Bank of New York expects to take its share of the corporate trust market to number one by acquiring JPMorgan Chase's corporate trust business, in a combination projected to total $8 trillion of debt issues. And, according to Karen Peetz, executive vice president and head of corporate trust at BNY, the purchase will sharply boost BNY's client base, particularly within the CDO sector, where the bank will press towards a near-term goal of 60% market share.

As increasing demand ground CLO spreads tighter and tighter in 2005 - so much so that a number of deals were at risk of breaching spread requirements - more managers looked to middle market loan collateral as a higher yielding alternative.

Spring break and observances of major religious holidays suppressed the primary ABS market for the second consecutive week, resulting in a mere $5.7 billion in issuance by Wednesday afternoon. That fell short of trader estimates, which put issuance between $8 billion and $10 billion.

The top 10 most widely referenced entities within the burgeoning U.S. credit default swap market accounted for 43% of all trades last year, excluding the indices. This is compared with only 27% in 2004, according to Fitch Ratings.

Recent legislative changes to government student loan programs might open doors for more borrowers, but they could also increase the likelihood of borrower defaults, said Fitch Ratings last week.

In a very busy week, bond insurer XL Capital created a holding company to oversee its financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance businesses, and launched an initial public offering to fund its growth.

Look for the U.S. structured finance team at Deutsche Asset Man-agement - a large investor in the ABS market - to grow its portfolio even more over the coming year.