© 2024 Arizent. All rights reserved.

Whispers

People Moves

Dennis Kraft has left The Hartford Investment Management Company (HIMCO). Kraft was head of ABS/CMBS investment for the firm.

Brian O'Keane has left his position as manager of securitization at equipment-ABS issuer CNH Capital to become assistant treasurer at Deerfield, Ill.-based foodservice distributor Alliant Foodservice. Citing a "better career opportunity," O'Keane said he will have a broader area of responsibility at Alliant, focusing on the company's securitization program within the context of its cash management operations. To date, Alliant has done a $300 million private placement term deal and a $70 million conduit, both backed by trade receivables.

For the time being, O'Keane's responsibilities at CNH will be picked up by manager of capital markets Jennifer Orsted, though the company would not comment on whether Orsted would be the permanent replacement. Both Orsted and O'Keane had worked side by side on many deals at CNH, company sources said, reporting to Vice President and Treasurer Alberto Fornaro.

Thomas H. Glanfield has joined Ernst & Young LLP as a partner in the securitization and structured finance advisory services practice. Glanfield most recently served as the managing director of the asset securitization group at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Jorge Calderon has been named new global head of debt capital markets at Deutsche Bank, filling some of the void left by the recent departures of Grant Kvalheim, Peter Goettler and Jonathan Winter, all of whom moved to Barclays Capital. Calderon was formerly co-head of securitization at Deutsche with Phil Weingord, both of whom joined Deutsche from Credit Suisse First Boston early last year. Weingord is now the lone head of securitization.

Deutsche has also hired John Campo as global head of hybrid credit products. Campo has recently left HSBC Securities. He worked previously at Merrill Lynch.

Separately, Deutsche Bank has hired Sunil Madan from Morgan Stanley, as well as an ex-Lehman Brothers banker, to assist in building an a real estate CDO business, market sources said.

Deutsche Bank is rumored to have several CDO teams currently focussing on high-yield, market value, and multi-sector deals, rivals said.

ACA Financial Guaranty has hired Chris Skardon and David Zimmer. Skardon is brought on for his experience as an ABS portfolio manager, while Zimmer will be running the firm's sales and trading. Both start as managing directors, reporting to Maryam Muessel, the company's chief operating officer.

Eric Van Heyst, formerly at Asset Guaranty Insurance (AGI), started Monday as a director at XL Capital Assurance. Van Heyst, who reports to David Stevens, is primarily responsible for issuer marketing and third-party reinsurance relationships.

News

Moody's Investors Service is taking a more flexible point of view on country sovereign ceilings and has changed the way it will rate foreign currency bonds. As a result, 38 issuers from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East are on review for a possible upgrade.

Many banks are included in those in line for review, which seemed to puzzle sources at other rating agencies, since banks are usually closely linked to governments. According to David Levey, co-head of the sovereign risk unit at Moody's, many of the banks are foreign and only the bonds of the banks have been put on review, not the deposits.

"The world has changed in such a way that we don't necessarily think governments will always impose a debt moratorium if they themselves are in some kind of difficulty," Levey said. "Companies that have strong credit fundamentals might still be able to service their debt even under these circumstances when the government can't."

Each company will now be looked at on a case by case basis. Several situations including those in Ecuador, Russia, Pakistan and Ukraine triggered the rating agency to re-evaluate the methodology.

ING Barings has won the mandate for Samsung's $500 million credit-card receivables transaction out of Korea. UBS Warbug LLC and Credit Suisse First Boston have also received the mandate for LG Capital's $200 million credit-card receivables deal from Korea. Asia has issued nearly $2 billion this year and 90% is attributed to Korea. Sources say Korea is projecting $3 billion of consumer finance deals by year-end.

Calendar

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.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM ASSET SECURITIZATION REPORT