Finance

The Commercial Real Estate Finance Council tapped Lisa Pendergast, a respected industry veteran, as its executive director.

Mid-market commercial direct lender Newstar Financial is losing one of its founding members and a key figure in establishing its multi-faceted securitization platform with the announced retirement of treasurer and asset management head John Frishkopf.

The recent and ongoing upheaval in Libor rates is producing divergent outlooks on debt and equity positions in CLOs, says the Loan Syndications and Trading Association.

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday assigned an expected ‘AAA’ rating on the Class A (2016-5) series of C seven-year notes, the only tranche in the issuance. The notes will carry an interest rate of 1.27% and supported by 14% credit enhancement – a level in line with Chase’s recent receivables-backed issues in 2016.

American Honda Finance Corp. has filed for its third super prime loan securitization of the year, in a $1.25 billion transaction that could be upsized to $1.5 billion. The deal comes as the company has experienced growing levels of delinquencies and repossessions that have not shaken ratings agencies' faith in Honda's performance as a long-term asset-backed issuer.

The ratings agency raised its rankings of Ocwen as a residential mortgage prime, subprime, special and subordinate-lien servicer to average from below average, S&P said in a news release Tuesday. Similarly, Ocwen's rankings as a commercial mortgage special servicer and a small-balance commercial mortgage primary and special servicer were raised to average from below average.

Mill City Holdings, which was recently assigned ownership interests in a pair of CarVal Investors’ re-performing mortgage securitizations from 2015, is preparing a third deal involving formerly delinquent and defaulted mortgages. Mill City Mortgage Loan Trust 2016-1 is a transaction of a portfolio of 1,986 distressed or re-performing mortgages.

Nationstar HECM Loan Trust Asset-Backed Notes, Series 2016-3, is a $246.21 million asset-backed notes issuance supported by a $251 million collateral pool of properties tied to reverse mortgages or properties that have become bank-owned assets under the FHA’s HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) program.

Heathrow Funding, a corporate securitization vehicle that issues bonds raising proceeds for London’s Heathrow Airport and related rail link services, is issuing £400 million (US$520 million) in new notes for the airport to repay upcoming debt maturities.

Bank purchases of Lending Club loans was down 47% in the second quarter from the first, despite higher incentive payments offered by the marketplace lender. Lending Club said that while its loan-purchases program is stabilizing with asset managers and hedge funds, banks have yet to be lured back into the fold.

Online lender Earnest completed its third student-loan securitization in six months, in another oversubscribed offering that raised the finance company’s total issuance to $527 million for 2016. The offering's senior notes were rated 'AA' by DBRS, a bump from the previous single-A ratings of its two prior transactions this year.

Lending Club announced the resignation of its chief financial officer while reporting an $81.4 million quarterly loss due largely to fallout from the scandal that rocked the firm in May.

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup were among a trio of commercial mortgage securitizations with presale reports issued Monday. Morgan Stanley is securitizing a pool of commercial mortgages in a $719.8 million asset-backed structure. Citigroup’s Commercial Mortgage Trust 2016-C2 is a $609.17 million syndicate conduit transaction that includes consortium of large loan properties.

In a report issued Monday, Moody’s stated that “green” building features are becoming an important factor in maintaining property valuations and tenant occupancy levels, and can likely result in higher debt repayment performance of the commercial mortgage through maturity.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could need as much as $126 billion in bailout money from taxpayers in a severe economic downturn, according to stress test results released Monday by their regulator.

A new premier Manhattan office development project – 10 Hudson Yards – has parceled out part of its debut $708 million commercial loan into a commercial mortgage-backed facility of loans through Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. CD 2016-CD1 is a pool of 32 fixed-rate loans secured by 58 commercial properties.

Rules requiring CLO managers to keep skin in the game of their deals has taken a toll on smaller firms. But the resulting thinning of the ranks has created room for some new players that are better capitalized, including insurance companies.

Credit Suisse is marketing $180.8 million of bonds backed by a portfolio of 58 suburban office and industrial properties totaling 3.9 million square feet, according to Standard & Poor’s.

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association has finalized a rule designed to speed up settlement of leveraged loans.