In a marriage designed to take advantage of the different strengths of the two parties, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. and Dresdner Bank AG have teamed up on an asset-backed commercial conduit dubbed Concerto.
The banks two have set up a 100 billion yen ($1 billion) multiseller program, through a special purpose corporation based in the Cayman Islands. The offshore company will issue commercial paper to finance the purchase of assets from Japanese companies, such as trade receivables, leases and auto loans.
Dresdner will be responsible for the marketing side of the program, targeting pension funds, regional banks and mutual funds in the U.S. Bank of Tokyo, meanwhile, will be responsible for lining up Japanese companies that are looking to raise cash through asset sales.
An official at Bank of Tokyo said that by having Dresdner act as the marketer, it averts some of the resistance they believe might arise if the Bank of Tokyo name were the seller.
The program also seeks to take advantage of a growing trend among Japanese companies that are now starting to tap the asset-backed commercial paper market in order to diversify funding sources and allocate to U.S. investors.
