CMBS

Morgan Stanley and Bank of America yesterday began marketing the second CMBS offering so far in 201l, according to a Dow Jones report.

As the CMBS market preps for its take off with the upcoming launch of the Deutsche Bank and UBS $2.2 billion CMBS deal, market analysts said that new-issue CMBS will be driven by rising risk appetite, improving economic sentiment and the persistent supply/demand imbalance.

Shopping the B-piece is an integral part of structuring a CMBS transaction. However, with more than a few of the more traditional B-piece investors exiting the market in the last down cycle, B-piece buying became more opportunistic. As CMBS market fundamentals improve, the sector is bound to see the return of the more traditional mezzanine investors, sources said.

Kroll Bond Ratings is set to publish its initial rating criteria and research for structured finance at the end of February, according to James Nadler, president and chief operating officer at the company.

In the aftermath of wholesale downgrades of RMBS by the ratings agencies, following the housing market downturn, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) decided to try a different approach.

A source of industry ruin became a surprisingly lucrative growth area for some big banks last quarter: commercial real estate (CRE).

Several new deals that have been in the works signal that the CMBS new-issue market might be picking up steam, according to Scott Buchta, head of investment strategy at Braver Stern Securities in an emailed note.

Fitch Ratings, in a recent report, updated the “Challenge Factors” (CFs) assigned to 36 emerging market countries in 2009.

A Canadian CMBS transaction called Institutional Mortgage Securities Canada Inc., Series 2011-1. is in the market. The eight-tranche transaction is managed by TD Securities.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft hired Joseph Beach for its Charlotte office as special counsel in the capital markets department. His practice will focus on loan finance and securitization.