CDOs/CLOs

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 5,670.4 1 21.7 9 Morgan Stanley 3,825.6 2 14.6 13 Citigroup 2,965.7 3 11.3 7 Lehman Brothers 2,639.2 4 10.1 8 UBS 2,632.6 5 10.1 6 Bear Stearns & Co Inc 2,271.2 6 8.7 5 Groupe Caisses d'Epargne 1,742.0 7 6.7 2 Credit Suisse First Boston 889.0 8 3.4 3 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 866.1 9 3.3 2 JP Morgan 685.0 10 2.6 1 Industry Total 26,163.9 - 100.0 64 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 1,579.0 1 27.0 1 JP Morgan 1,400.0 2 23.9 6 Citigroup 1,125.0 3 19.2 3 Barclays Capital 799.1 4 13.7 7 Lehman Brothers 375.0 5 6.4 1 Deutsche Bank AG 199.1 6 3.4 3 Banc of America Securities LLC 199.1 6 3.4 3 Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 174.3 8 3.0 1 Industry Total 5,850.5 - 100.0 14 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 Lehman Brothers 725.8 1 30.4 1 JP Morgan 725.8 1 30.4 1 Barclays Capital 725.8 1 30.4 1 Citigroup 212.0 4 8.9 1 Industry Total 2,389.5 - 100.0 2 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 17,674.8 1 11.6 17 Bear Stearns & Co Inc 17,149.0 2 11.2 24 Lehman Brothers 14,916.3 3 9.8 36 Morgan Stanley 14,097.8 4 9.2 16 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 13,760.5 5 9.0 22 Deutsche Bank AG 12,915.7 6 8.4 24 Credit Suisse First Boston 12,357.6 7 8.1 28 Merrill Lynch & Co Inc 8,743.8 8 5.7 10 Goldman Sachs & Co 6,815.0 9 4.5 11 Citigroup 6,372.2 10 4.2 16 Industry Total 153,004.8 - 100.0 222 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 Banc of America Securities LLC 3,134.2 1 24.2 4 Citigroup 2,230.0 2 17.2 4 Credit Suisse First Boston 1,645.9 3 12.7 2 Morgan Stanley 1,540.6 4 11.9 1 UBS 1,447.2 5 11.2 3 Lehman Brothers 1,012.4 6 7.8 1 Deutsche Bank AG 817.2 7 6.3 2 Goldman Sachs & Co 806.2 8 6.2 2 JP Morgan 317.2 9 2.5 1 Industry Total 12,950.9 - 100.0 11 Source: Thomson Financial

auto ABS 18% credit card ABS 4% global MBS 6% real estate ABS 61% student loan ABS 8% Other 3%

The State of Texas filed an administrative appeal last week against the Public Utility Commission of Texas' decision to give CenterPoint Energy the green light to issue $1.8 billion in rate reduction bonds, delaying the issue that CenterPoint was planning for the near term (see ASR 3/14/05). The appeal was filed last Wednesday in the District Court of Travis County, Texas, where the state capital of Austin is located, and could derail the deal indefinitely. Tom Kelly, spokesman for the Texas State Attorney General's office, declined to comment, saying it does not comment on pending legal matters.

After a shaky three-year period characterized by low issuance, corporate bankruptcies and consolidation, dubbed the perfect storm,' the equipment-least sector is ripe for a comeback, say market observers. Buoyed by strong demand for agricultural equipment, more experienced issuers and higher lease origination volumes in general, the sector is expected to see up to $10 billion in issuance this year, compared to $7.6 billion in 2004, and an even greater increase in the years to follow.

Volume in the primary U.S. ABS market was relatively light last week, coming in just under $5 billion as of Thursday's market close. Real estate ABS accounted for $1.6 billion in total new issues, and was comprised of several smaller deals with just one breaking the $500 million mark. Subprime collateral dominated the home-equity calendar.

In a 45-page report on General Motors and General Motors Acceptance Corp., a team of Merrill Lynch analysts from the unsecured debt and ABS groups highlighted the benefits and drawbacks of GMAC's increased reliance on securitization as its corporate rating heads south. GMAC has already started to change its funding strategy to rely more on secured financing and is likely to be forced to turn to the securitization markets even more if its corporate debt falls below investment-grade status.