Current Banc One Capital Markets Managing Director and head of ABS research strategy Alex Roever has been named North American head of short-term strategy at the post-merger JPMorgan/Bank One entity. In his new position, he will work from the New York office, focusing on cross-sector relative value for securities inside of five years. He will report jointly to Margaret Cannella, head of North American credit research, and Terry Belton, head of fixed-income research. The move does not change the responsibilities of JPMorgan Securities researcher Chris Flanagan, who was named head of global structured products research.
Barclays Capital has hired Patrick Galloway to head its collateralized debt obligation group, according to sources, and he began working there last Monday. Galloway, who in 1999 was co-head of structured finance at pre-merger PaineWebber, will report to Barclays' Vince Balducci, managing director and head of credit derivatives. Galloway was most recently at CDO shop Invesco Inc. Invesco has been a fairly prolific issuer of CDOs, pricing two transactions so far this year alone, most recently a high yield loan-backed deal called Champlain.
Michael Hoeh, formerly a portfolio manager at Dreyfus Investment Advisors, has left the company to join Credit Industriel et Commercial in New York. Hoeh was the former manager of the Dreyfus Premier GNMA Fund. Gerald Thunelius and Ronald Deonarain were reportedly named as Hoeh's replacements.
Standard & Poor's executive managing director of Global Structured Finance Ratings Joanne Rose issued commentary last week calling for increased transparency and disclosure on behalf of issuers. "The market must look far beyond repairing its damaged image in the court of public opinion and create a new framework in which transparency and disclosure are accepted as being its bedrock principle," Rose pens in her statement. "Much of the criticism of structured finance came from those who do not fully understand the market," she adds.
Moody's Investors Service raised the servicer rating of specialty subprime servicer Fairbanks Capital Corp. to SQ3 (Average) from SQ4 (Below Average) last week. The ratings bump reflects operational improvements, stabilized legal and regulatory environment and effective servicing performance. The move follows rival Fitch Ratings' affirmation and removal of its Rating Watch Negative status on its RPS3- residential primary servicer rating on March 1.
Boutique shop CTL Capital, a unit of Dublind Partners, is marketing a $31.5 million series 2004-1 Union Pacific Railroad license-backed private placement ABS, sources confirmed. The single-tranche fixed-rate transaction, rated triple-B minus by Fitch Ratings, is being marketed to investors with a 7.45% coupon. The deal is backed by 3,300 licenses to utility, corporate and municipal customers.
Standard & Poor's has added a new track to its upcoming Structured Finance conference at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress hotel in Orlando, Fla. The track, titled Tools of the Trade, offers attendees the opportunity to use the same quantitative, credit-risk and excess-spread models that S&P uses to analyze portfolios.
The Metris Companies, fresh off completing its first credit card securitization in two years, is reportedly having trouble completing an unsecured debt offering in the private placement market, wire services reported. The initial five-year, non-call three bond led by Banc of America Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman Sachs was reportedly changed to a syndicated bank loan last week due to a lack of high yield investor interest, despite an offered 12% coupon. "The firm's upcoming corporate debt issue will make or break Metris' ability to fund operations through 2005," S&P said in a report. "Metris' operating performance has improved and its funding through 2005 will be locked in if its upcoming corporate debt issue is successful," the agency added.
Moody's Investors Service reported revenue of $331.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2004, an increase of 19% from $278.2 million for the same quarter last year. Global structured finance revenue totaled $113.0 million for the first quarter of 2004, an increase of 16% from $97.8 million a year earlier. U.S. structured finance revenue rose in the double-digit percent range, benefiting from robust growth in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and credit derivatives, partially offset by weakness in issuance of asset-backed securities. International structured finance revenue grew in the mid-20s percent range, driven by growth in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities in Europe and despite weakness in European credit derivatives, as tighter credit spreads reduced the profitability of these transactions for sponsors.
Wall Street Analytics announced enhancements to its CDOnet software last week, including the ability to update loan positions within multiple portfolios of CLOs and CDOs. Linked by an identifier, loans can now be altered to reflect roll-overs, spread changes, principal and interest payments and payment date resets.
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