Fannie Mae's Board of Directors appointed Robert Blakely as its new CFO, the company announced, as well as disclosing a number of key personnel changes. Blakely joins from MCI, where he served as executive vice president and CFO since April 2003, overseeing the restructuring of the finance, accounting and controls functions. Blakely will join Fannie Mae following the close of MCI's merger with Verizon Communications.
In addition to Blakely, Fannie Mae named Robert Levin as chief business officer, Michael Williams as chief operating officer and Carolyn Groobey as senior vice president of strategy.
ABS strategist Jeff Salmon has left his position as director in the New York-based ABS research group of Barclays Capital to pursue other opportunities. Salmon, who's last day was Nov. 4, had been with Barclays since 1999, where he covered consumer ABS assets.
Baker & McKenzie hired a team of securitization lawyers, including four partners, from Norton Rose to fortify its global structured finance team. Joining Baker & McKenzie as partners are Jonathan Walsh, Vincent Keaveny, Simon Porter and Bruce Somer. Walsh will co-head the global structured finance team alongside longtime Baker & McKenzie partner Dick Rudder. Associates joining the firm are Ed Bracken, Rebecca Ford, Katie McCaw and Sarah Porter, who all joined the firm last month.
Moody's Investors Service plans to begin publishing Transaction Governance Assessments for rated, public credit-card securitizations beginning this week. In addition to providing commentary and opinion regarding the level of oversight an issuer applies to its transactions, the assessments outline processes that minimize the risk of errors in calculations, errors in cashflow allocations and mismanagement of funds and assets, according to Moody's. The assessments will be included in new issue reports and pre-sale reports issued by Moody's. Moody's expects to expand this initiative to other asset types within the ABS and RMBS markets.
Markit Group Limited launched an independent pricing service for European asset-backed securities last week, a welcome development for investors seeking secondary market transparency. The service, offering same day bid/offer prices, spread and average life assumptions, covers some 3,500 European RMBS, CMBS, ABS and cashflow CDOs. Investors can expect the service to extend into the substantially more liquid U.S. market next year, Markit announced.
Principia Partners announced that it has partnered with analytic platform Intex to enhance its operational processing platform, the company announced. Principia now offers "the ability to process ABS/MBS instruments from deal capture through to accounting; and the ability to value and monitor ABS/MBS instruments in conjunction with other portfolio assets," Principia said in a release. Principia now has 14,000 ABS transactions in its database.
The investor group consisting of Five Mile Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners which is planning to purchase 60% of GMAC Commercial Mortgage for a reported $6 billion, was scheduled to meet last week, according to wire reports. The transaction would be funded in part by a syndicated term loan, as well as a revolving credit facility and the issuance of CMBS.
The CIT Group Inc. disclosed that it had $135 million of exposure to bankrupt airline Flyi and its operating unit Independence Air Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. CIT's exposure comes in the form of four leases on CIT-owned aircraft. "[T]he Independence Air filing will not have a material adverse impact on our financial results," CIT said in a statement.
Golden Globe award nominated actor and comedian David Spade will be the featured entertainer at the industry dinner during the American Securitization Forum's 2006 conference, the industry group announced. The dinner will be held on January 30, 2006. United Capital Markets is sponsoring the entertainment portion of the dinner.
Nelnet Inc. agreed to acquire the remaining 50% ownership of 5280 Solutions Inc. and Firstmark Services, that it did not already own. Nelnet's initial 50% ownership positions date to the formation of both organizations. Both organizations will maintain their brand identity, headquarters, and management. The purchase price to be paid by Nelnet includes cash and restricted shares of class A common stock. The transaction will be accretive, but not material to base net income in 2006.
Origen Financial reported that its total revenue increased 36% to $19.3 million on loan origination volume that increased 3% to $82.5 million versus $79.9 million for the year ago quarter. Additionally, non-performing loans as a percent of average outstanding loan principal balances decreased to 1% for 3Q05, compared to 1.4% for 3Q04. Additionally, loans 60 or more days delinquent were 1.3% of the owned loan portfolio, versus 1.8% at year-end 2004. Net charge-offs totaled $2.6 million for 3Q05, a 13% increase versus the $2.3 million charged off during the third quarter 2004, reflecting the growth of the owned loan portfolio and the negative impact of legacy loans.
Irwin Financial Corp. announced that its consolidated loan and lease portfolio totaled $4 billion as of Sept. 30, a $51 million decline versus the end of the second quarter. The decline was attributed to a reduction in Irwin's home equity held-for-investment portfolio resulting from a strategic decision to sell more home equity product in future quarters and, therefore, a reclassification of $200 million of loans to held for sale. Irwin's two commercial portfolios increased $205 million, or 29% on an annualized basis. Loans held for sale in the first held for sale mortgage portfolio were up slightly at $758 million and the second mortgage segment increased $485 million on a sequential quarter basis.
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