Steve Heller has joined Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc., a company which provides consulting services and risk analytics for fixed-income investors, with an emphasis on mortgage and asset-backed securities. Heller will be responsible for the development of the option-adjusted spread models for ARMs, Fixed Rate MBS and CMOs. He comes to the company from Analytic Aid, an independent consulting firm that developed software for use in analyzing pools of mortgages and other assets. As President of Analytic Aid, he built highly customized underwriting, pricing, valuation and securitization models for a number of investment companies and banks. Prior to Analytic Aid, Steve worked at Merrill Lynch for 12 years as vice president of mortgage finance and then as a director. While he was director, Heller managed structured finance analytics for residential and commercial mortgage finance.
The law firm of Thacher Proffitt & Wood is expanding its international securities and cross-border finance practices with the addition of Walter G. Van Dorn, Jr. as a partner, and the promotion of Deirdre A. Dillon, Maria M. Livanos and Kathleen A. Wechter as counsel to the firm. The firm has significantly increased its worldwide presence recently, including opening an office in Mexico, and Van Dorn will assist in continuing to expand the firm's services in the burgeoning South American market, as well as in Europe and Asia.
As Prudential Securities Inc. announced that it will withdraw from the institutional fixed-income arena, Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. LLC, of Newark, N.J., reaffirmed its commitment to its capital markets business.
Ginnie Mae has developed a new product to securitize multifamily loans that have been restructured under a mark-to-market program from the Federal Housing Administration. The Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring, which is overseeing the mark-to-market program, has 1,200 Section 8 properties that are due for restructuring. In the restructuring process, federal rent subsidies are reduced to market levels and the underlying FHA mortgage is reduced, with the FHA absorbing the loss.
Fannie Mae has priced a $5.0 billion offering of 10-year Benchmark Notes and a $2.0 billion offering of 30-year Benchmark Bonds. The 10-year, 6.625% notes (CUSIP 31359MGJ6), priced at 99.815, yield 6.650% at a spread of 91 basis points over the 5.750% Treasury due in August 2010. The 30-year, 6.625% bonds (CUSIP 31359MGK3), priced at 98.688, yield 6.727% at a spread of 95.5 bp over the 6.250% Treasury due in May 2030. Lehman Brothers Inc., Merrill Lynch Inc., and Salomon Smith Barney will act as the lead managers for both issues.
