After completing a securitization over Christmas week, Sallie Mae is set to increase its presence in the asset-backed arena in the coming year
"We plan on securitizing considerably more in the year 2000 than we did in 1999. And we hope to be in the market for the first quarter." Executive Vice President Paul Carey said.
As to why they chose to issue to a quiet market Carey said, "Even though the rest of the market was quiet, there was a fairly good market for our student loan deal. We are always ready to finance loan portfolios when the market is right. The deal just made sense for us, so we did it."
The coming year will also see an increase in deal volume for Sallie Mae. In 1997 and in the first half of 1998, the company was doing a deal a quarter and in 1998, they did deals amounting to more than $3 billion. "We're hoping to get back to that size as soon as possible," Carey said.