Barclays Capital recently hired the nine-person CDO correlation trading team from Citigroup Global Markets. The team, headed by Managing Director Doug Warren, consists of Geoff Gentile, Ted Husveth, Jonathan Koerner, Aleksandr Rabiner, Alex Salomon, Greg Tell and Anthony Trears. Citigroup, one of the innovators of correlation trading, developed the group roughly two years ago, sources said.
Kirkland & Ellis has promoted Norbert Knapke, Janette McMahan and Todd Andrew Miller to partners in the law firm's asset finance and securitization group. All three will report to Kenneth Morrison, who heads the asset finance and securitization group out of Chicago. Miller joined the firm last year from Mayer, Brown Rowe & Maw, McMahon joined the firm in 1998 and Knape joined in 2000.
Thacher Proffitt & Wood recently hired Marc Rossell as partner in the firm's corporate practice group, focusing on Latin American cross-boarder securitizations. Rossell joins from Shearman & Sterling, where he was also a partner focused on international securities offerings, principally in Latin America, as well as international corporate restructurings and liability management transactions. He reports to Paul Tvetenstrand, managing partner of Thacher Proffitt.
Lewtan Technologies, which operates ABSnet, today announced the sale of the company to DMG Information, the information publishing division of DMGT plc. Lewtan will continue operating autonomously under the business-to-business division of DMGi. ABSnet is a third-party distributor of ASR's content. DMGT is the majority owner of Euromoney II. "We are extremely pleased to be part of DMGi's portfolio of high-growth companies," said Stuart Lewtan, CEO of Lewtan Technologies, in a release. "Lewtan brings a unique set of core assets to the DMGi group. There are significant synergies for Lewtan to be associated with the other DMGi market players as well as additional companies in the DMGT. And Lewtan's clients will reap the benefits."
John Deere Capital Corp. announced that is would redeem all of its outstanding series 2001 3.78% Class A4 notes on Dec. 15. The payment of interest plus remaining principal will be made by the trustee on the deal, The Bank of New York Corporate Trustee Administration.
The Association of Financial Guaranty Insurers expects its member firms' aggregated volume of insured international securities, excluding securities from the U.S., to increase to $61.2 billion (81.1 million) in 2004, a 4% increase, and grow substantially in 2005, the group announced last week. AFGI projects that international par insured ABS will total $48.3 billion in 2004, up from $45.0 billion last year. The results of an AFGI survey of 74 institutional investors project growth in the issuance of public infrastructure and asset-backed securities throughout Europe over the next five years.
Non-prime residential mortgage lender Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. will present at the 5th Annual Lehman Brothers Securitized Credit Conference' in New York on Dec. 10. The event will be held at The Grand Hyatt New York, in midtown Manhattan. Accredited executive vice president and co-founder Ray McKewon will participate in a panel discussion on the subprime mortgage industry outlook, along with representatives from mortgage lenders.
In alliance with Korea First Bank, its local partner, JPMorgan Chase becomes the first foreign bank to provide backup servicing in Korea, the company recently announced. Arranged by Merrill Lynch, the Samsung deal is noteworthy as being the first cross-border credit card backed deal in Korea this year. "The standardized documentation and servicing standards that the alliance creates will allow speedier execution, greater risk mitigation and quicker time to market for asset-backed and mortgage-backed transactions," the company stated in its release.
Barclays plc announced that it has completed the acquisition of credit card issuer, Juniper Financial Corp. from CIBC. Barclays hopes that by 2015, the international credit card business of Barclaycard be as meaningful a contributor to the firm as Barclaycard U.K. Juniper offers co-branded credit cards and credit card services to leading U.S. companies, financial institutions and not-for-profit organizations. It has partnerships with leading U.S. organizations such as AirTran Airways, Best Western, Caesars Entertainment, Frontier Airlines, Gulf Petroleum, Midwest Airlines and Sinclair Oil.
Credit Suisse First Boston recently unveiled its Sovereign Bond Index, comprised primarily of liquid, tradable Brady bonds, Eurobonds and loans issued by sovereign central banks, rated below A1' by Moody's Investors Service and A+' by Standard & Poor's and The creation of this new index focuses on the diversification of the sovereign-bond asset class by constraining the par amount such that the largest percentage weight of any one sovereign is no greater than 15%.
Kevin Kime has joined the International Finance Corp. as a senior financial officer in the structured finance division, according to well-placed sources. Kime previously worked at Standard & Poor's, where, as director, he covered emerging market transactions, with a focus on future flows deals from Eastern Europe, ex-USSR, and the Middle East. His work at the IFC will center on Eastern Europe. Kime reports to team leader Lee Meddin.
Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.thomsonmedia.com http://www.asreport.com
