ABS

As the structured finance market struggles to make sense of myriad new rules stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act, it's become clear that rating agency reform initiatives from the regulators have largely been put on hold.

SKS Microfinance announced the securitization of receivables worth Rs 550cr ($12.3 million) from microfinance (MFI) borrowers.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) opened a Washington, D.C. office in an effort to further its advocacy efforts on behalf of the securitization markets.

Roseburg Forest Products is marketing a $295 million securitization called Oxbow Resources Timberland Notes 2011-1.

In a recent report, Fitch Ratings said that risks inherent in Brazilian multi-seller/multi-obligor ABS have become more heightened in recent deals backed by factoring company receivables. Generally, factoring companies in Brazil are privately held businesses that buy trade receivables from a variety of companies at a discount.

The consolidation of AT&T and T-Mobile USA could lead to a decline in cell tower revenues generated from site leases. This could have cash-flow implications for wireless tower ABS bonds.

The practice of voluntary asset buy-backs is prompting Fitch Ratings to keep several RMBS transactions in South Africa on Rating Watch Negative (RWN), the agency said in a report looking at the expected performance of the country’s structured finance sector this year.

Goldman Sachs is in the market with GS Mortgage Securities Trust, Series 2011-GC3. The more than $1.4 billion deal is backed by 57 fixed-rate loans secured by 111 commercial properties.

Despite uncertainty surrounding covered bond legislation in the U.S., issuers may place around $50 billion in the greenback market this year, according to Karlo Fuchs, senior director at Standard & Poor’s.

A deal backed by multiple assets and ownership interests in 37 multi-use communication tower sites called Richland Towers, LLC Secured Multi-Use Communication Tower Revenue Notes, Series 2011-1 is in the market.

Santander Consumer USA is in the market with a $526.3 million auto receivable deal named Santander Consumer Acquired Receivables Trust 2011-S1 (SCART 2011-S1) managed by Citigroup Global Markets.

Wyndham Worldwide Corp. is in the market with Sierra Timeshare 2011-1 Receivables Funding (Sierra Timeshare 2011-1), a $250 million transaction.

Lloyds TSB Bank and the Bank of Scotland issued a £1.45 billion ($2.35 billion) CLO of project finance loans.

Conyers Dill & Pearman boosted its Moscow office by moving senior corporate and finance lawyer Claire McConway from its Bermuda location where she was an associate.

The recapitalization plan of Petroleo Brasileiro, designed to fund epic growth, is on strong footing, according to a release by Moody’s Investors Service.

The Obama administration's white paper on housing finance reform might have been short on details on how the government plans to initiate housing finance reform.

Lawmakers laid out a series of ambitious deadlines in the Dodd-Frank Act, requiring regulators to complete roughly 170 new rules by July.

After waiting ten months, Redwood Trust issued a second Jumbo RMBS, injecting some optimism into the private-label mortgage securitization market.

A squabble over bragging rights for making the first whole business securitization since the financial crisis speaks volumes about Wall Street's ambitions for this slowly reviving asset class.

With economic growth in Argentina having surpassed 8% last year and unemployment diminishing, it is no wonder the country's consumer ABS sector boomed in 2010. Collateral, after all, was in generous supply as more optimistic consumers made purchases on credit. This year, observers said we should expect more of the same, although the pace of economic expansion is projected to be closer to half of last year's figure. Concern about rising delinquencies is moderate for now, and there's none of the bubble anxiety beginning to infect neighboring Brazil.