People
Evan Binder, formerly head of ING Barings' U.S. asset-backed group, starts Tuesday at Nomura Securities, in the asset-backed banking team as a managing director, reporting to group head Jim Lieblich.
Brian Raskovic has joined West LB, reporting to Manfred Knoll, who heads the firm's structured finance group. Raskovic moved over from Citibank, where he was a managing director
News
Despite Citigroup's acquisition of Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex), the Mexican bank is on schedule to bring a $100 million credit card transaction to market next month.
According to sources at the IMN conference in Japan earlier this month, market participants from Merrill Lynch announced that they expect ABS issuance from Japan to reach 3 trillion this year, up 50% from last year.
Fannie Mae has priced $5 billion of 4.625% two-year Benchmark Notes and $5.0 billion of 6.000% 10-year Benchmark Notes. The two-year note was priced at 99.929 to yield 4.664% at a spread of 38.5 basis points over the 4.000% Treasury due in April 2003. The 10-year note was priced at 99.344 to yield 6.089% at a spread of 68.5 bp over the 5.000% Treasury due in February 2011. The joint lead managers for both issues are Credit Suisse First Boston; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.
GMAC-RFC has entered Japan and plans to develop mortgage-related opportunities there, but meanwhile it has taken on a 13.5% share in a consumer finance company as its first investment in the country. The company, Priva Corp., focuses on originating consumer finance loans through the Internet and call centers. Chris Nordeen, managing director of Asia business development for GMAC-RFC, said that the investment is notable in that it is his company's first Japanese venture and its first one outside the mortgage market. He said the company believed it was ready to take a stake in a nonmortgage venture because the consumer loans it handles are so similar to the high loan-to-value mortgage loans GMAC-RFC deals with. "It's not an inordinate amount of new risk for us," Nordeen said of the move, which he characterized as "small but strategically very important." GMAC-RFC is partnering with Japanese companies Credia Co. Ltd., Itochu Finance Corp., and United Asia Finance Ltd. in the venture.
Miscellaneous
XL Capital Assurance (XLCA) made its first foray into the U.S. domestic ABS deal last week.
The surety was the featured triple-A wrap on Goldman Sachs' GRCT 01-1A, a $385 million auto loan-backed deal that was being shown to investors last week.
Calendar
June 4-5: New York, NY-The Strategic Research Institute will sponsor the Fourth Annual Forum on Collateralized Debt Obligations: CBOs/CLOs on the Go! The forum will take place at the Martinique on Broadway. For more information, visit www.srinstitute.com or call 888-666-8514.
June 7: New York, NY-Standard & Poor's, in conjunction with "Aviation Week & Space Technology," will host a half-day Aviation Finance Seminar. For more information visit www.standardandpoors.com or call 212-438-2800.
June 11-12: Chicago, IL-The Strategic Research Institute presents the second annual forum on Equiptment Finance and Lease Securitization. For more information, visit www.srinstitute.com/ca262 or call 888-666-85-14.
June 20-23: Barcelona, Spain-Frank Fabozzi, Inc. presents the fifth annual Global Asset Securitization. For more information visit www.imn.org.
June 25-26: New York, NY-The Institute for International Research will host The CDO Summit. For more information call 888-670-8200 or visit www.iir-ny.com.
Sept. 30-Oct.3: Southhampton Princess, Bermuda-The Strategic Research Institute presents The Bermuda ABS 2001 Symposium. For more information, visit www.srinstitute.com or call 888-666-8514.
