CDOs/CLOs

First-time issuer Universal Compression, Inc. was set to price the first deal backed by leases on natural gas compressors the ABS market has seen to date. The $200 million, 144A deal, Universal Funding 2005-1, was being led by Wachovia Securities but had yet to price as of press time.

Wireless broadband service provider Wirefree Partners LLC is shopping a $138.5 million securitization of distribution licensing payments due the company from Sprint Nextel Corp. over at least the next 10 years. The series 2005-1 transaction, offered via lead manager Lehman Brothers, will go to repay Wirefree's borrowings that were used to fund its $150.2 million bid under the Federal Communications Commission's Auction 58, which took place in February.

The third quarter report card for U.S. CDOs released last week by Standard & Poor's, showed some expected strengths - located in the high-yield corporate bond and loan sectors - as well as the usual weaknesses, such as later vintage MH ABS-backed securities. And judging by the make-up of deals currently on either negative or positive review by the rating agency, this quarter's trends are likely to continue into yearend.

As an increasing number of companies look to structured products for funding, and short-term rates continue inching higher, ABCP issuance continues growing. As of the second quarter, U.S. ABCP outstandings reached $630.7 billion, a 5.1% increase from the first quarter and a 6.5% spike from the second quarter of 2004. And, use of extendible-note programs has increased to $99.9 billion outstanding as of June, up from $75.2 billion one year previous. That represents a jump to 15.8% of all ABCP issuance outstanding from 12.7% a year earlier.

Year to date as of 10/20 Term (days) 10/14 10/17 10/18 10/19 10/20 1-week

Full Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market Managers Proceeds (mils) Rank Mkt. Share # of Issues Citigroup 8,997.6 1 12.8 14 Deutsche Bank AG 8,744.1 2 12.4 15 JP Morgan 8,270.8 3 11.8 13 Wachovia Corp 7,317.1 4 10.4 14 Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 7,246.0 5 10.3 9 Banc of America Securities LLC 6,947.1 6 9.9 11 Barclays Capital 4,782.8 7 6.8 9 Credit Suisse First Boston 4,561.9 8 6.5 9 Goldman Sachs & Co 3,564.1 9 5.1 4 HSBC Holdings PLC 3,334.4 10 4.7 5 Industry Total 70,418.5 - 100.0 67 Source: Thomson Financial

Full Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market Managers Proceeds (mils) Rank Mkt. Share # of Issues Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 19,472.7 1 18.2 28 Citigroup 15,458.7 2 14.4 32 Bear Stearns & Co Inc 8,783.8 3 8.2 21 Morgan Stanley 8,498.7 4 7.9 30 Wachovia Corp 8,359.9 5 7.8 16 Deutsche Bank AG 6,679.6 6 6.2 16 Banc of America Securities LLC 6,524.5 7 6.1 22 JP Morgan 5,293.0 8 4.9 14 UBS 5,278.1 9 4.9 12 Lehman Brothers 5,147.7 10 4.8 16 Industry Total 107,148.6 - 100.0 248 Source: Thomson Financial

Full Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market Managers Proceeds (mils) Rank Mkt. Share # of Issues JP Morgan 11,469.1 1 26.4 22 Citigroup 7,198.2 2 16.6 18 Barclays Capital 4,891.0 3 11.3 14 Deutsche Bank AG 3,776.7 4 8.7 18 Banc of America Securities LLC 3,133.2 5 7.2 12 Morgan Stanley 3,016.5 6 7.0 5 Credit Suisse First Boston 2,000.0 7 4.6 6 Lehman Brothers 2,000.0 7 4.6 5 ABN AMRO 1,833.2 9 4.2 7 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 1,285.8 10 3.0 5 Industry Total 43,392.7 - 100.0 82 Source: Thomson Financial

Full Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market Managers Proceeds (mils) Rank Mkt. Share # of Issues Morgan Stanley 2,441.7 1 18.4 4 Deutsche Bank AG 2,368.6 2 17.8 4 ABN AMRO 1,643.6 3 12.4 3 Barclays Capital 1,492.5 4 11.2 2 Credit Suisse First Boston 1,243.6 5 9.4 2 Banc of America Securities LLC 750.0 6 5.6 1 Lehman Brothers 725.8 7 5.5 1 JP Morgan 725.8 7 5.5 1 HSBC Holdings PLC 566.7 9 4.3 1 Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 375.0 10 2.8 1 Societe Generale 375.0 10 2.8 1 Industry Total 13,300.2 - 100.0 13 Source: Thomson Financial

Full Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market Managers Proceeds (mils) Rank Mkt. Share # of Issues Countrywide Securities Corp 57,717.0 1 10.8 64 Lehman Brothers 53,403.3 2 10.0 105 Bear Stearns & Co Inc 49,370.6 3 9.2 109 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 47,184.2 4 8.8 77 Credit Suisse First Boston 44,118.0 5 8.2 94 Morgan Stanley 36,805.0 6 6.9 50 Deutsche Bank AG 36,620.2 7 6.8 70 Citigroup 30,373.6 8 5.7 77 Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 28,736.9 9 5.4 44 Banc of America Securities LLC 26,021.5 10 4.9 59 Industry Total 536,290.5 - 100.0 1,028 Source: Thomson Financial