ABS

According to preliminary figures from the ASR Scorecards database, $31.03 billion in public ABS was issued in 1H11. This is a boost in comparison with the $26.41 billion recorded a year ago.

Regulation was a main focus at the recently concluded Global ABS 2011 conference held in Brussels in mid June. One of the issues was Solvency II, the proposed new European regulatory regime that, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service, is probably going to increase regulatory capital requirements for both European Union and European Economic Area insurers and reinsurers when it is implemented in 2013.

The regulatory overhaul of the housing market has taken center stage in most discussions regarding securitizations.

Tejas Securities Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Westech Capital Corp. hired Samir Shah as managing director and co-sales manager of structured products.

Grant Thornton’s public finance practice has been selected as the structuring and refunding verification agent for NYS Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp.’s (TSFC) $959.1 million ABS offering, which was priced by Barclays Capital on Tuesday.

Garanti Bank has closed its transaction comprising two new series of notes worth $225 million and €50 million ($72 million). The series of notes were issued under the firm's diversified payment rights (DPRs) program called Garanti Diversified Payment Rights Finance Co.

Moody’s Investors Service is asking for market feedback on a proposed follow-up to its operational risk guidelines concerning ABCP programs in a Request for Comment (RFC) issued yesterday.

A group of mortgage originators, issuers and investors is close to a consensus on a new process for enforcing representations and warranties on private-label securities.

GTP Acquisition Partners is offering the Class C and Class F notes of Secured Tower Revenue Notes, Series 2011-2. Moody’s Investors Service has assigned provisional ratings of 'A2 (sf)' to the $490 million Class C notes and 'Ba3 (sf)' to the $155 million Class F notes. The offering is backed by wireless towers.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

Textainer Marine Containers Limited (TMCL) closed its $400 million ABS deal Series 2011-1 Fixed Rate Asset Backed Notes.

The House Financial Services Committee has approved legislation aimed to support the growth of the U.S. covered bond market with wide bipartisan support. The bill, named H.R. 940 The United States Covered Bond Act of 2011, passed by a vote of 45-7-3.

Enterprise Fleet Management (EFM) is currently in the market with Enterprise Fleet Financing, LLC Series 2011-2. JPMorgan Securities and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the joint bookrunners on the almost $600 million 144A transaction.

Continuing its string of new hires, Barclays Capital has appointed Kenneth Rosenberg as part of its securitization syndicate team.

The Japan-based mobile telecommunications carrier called Softbank Mobile Corp. is marketing JPY 5.126 billion ($64 million) of senior trust certificates that are backed by handset installment sales receivables.

Favorable regulatory treatment for the covered bond sector in Europe has spurred its growth. said panelists at the Global ABS 2011 conference held this week in Brussels.

Buysiders speaking at an investor roundtable panel said that understanding ABS collateral is key to structured finance recovery.

There remains value in certain European ABS sectors despite their risk profile, said panelists at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe’s (AFME) and the Information Management Network’s Global ABS 2011 conference being held in Brussels this week.

The epic destruction wrought by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last March should not have a direct effect on the credit quality of Japanese REITs (J-REITs), Standard & Poor’s said in a report.

The rating performance of European small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) securitizations during the economic crisis are congruent with the macroeconomic environment, said a Moody's Investor Service report.