ABS

Citigroup has priced a $525 million CLO, upsized from $500 million, that will be managed by an affiliate of WCAS Fraser Sullivan Investment Management.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded 24 structured finance transactions backed by pools of Greek assets.

Tenneco has modified its U.S. trade accounts receivable securitization program to extend the revolving terms of the program to March 25, 2011, add an additional bank investor and increase the available financing under the facility by $10 million to a total of $110 million.

According to Fitch Ratings, 32 corporate synthetic CDO tranches will default following the recent ISDA ruling which called a credit event on Ambac Assurance Corporation.

Jefferies hired of Cyril Paillard as a managing director in MBS and ABS sales in Paris.

Interest in both new production and legacy loans has been growing for some time, but without a capital markets outlet like securitization, some careful matchmaking will continue to be needed to meet the growing demand.

As the Federal Reserve officially leaves the MBS market this week, mortgage servicers will likely step up their hedging efforts to shield portfolios from any major rise in interest rate volatility.

The European asset-backed commercial paper market might see a return to stable growth during the remainder of 2010 after three years of declining issuance, according to Fitch Ratings.

Despite several attempts, the senior loan market has thus far failed to build on any kind of meaningful and sustained momentum. Up to this point, in early March, the efforts have been marked more by the failings of some familiar faces than by the new stars that were expected to materialize out of the shadows of the hobbled lenders.

Property valuers and loan servicers may be too cautious when reviewing the European commercial property markets and the approach may encourage excessive conservatism to be built into valuations and work-out strategies, said Fitch Ratings.

CIT Group announced that it has closed a new $1 billion committed U.S. vendor finance conduit facility with Barclays Bank as administrative agent and three additional banks as committed lenders.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is weighing the possibility of issuing securities backed by $50 billion of MBS that belonged to failed corporate credit unions.

Swiss Reinsurance said it has obtained an additional $120 million of natural catastrophe protection through the Successor X program.

The Obama administration's latest foreclosure prevention plan got an A for effort from most observers, who said it targets the right group of borrowers — the unemployed and those whose mortgages exceed the value of their home.

Fitch Ratings launched its Maturity Repayment Index, which measures the proportion of the total matured loan balance that has been successfully repaid.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) announced Friday that a bankruptcy credit event had occurred in respect to Ambac Assurance Corp.

Markit will be providing liquidity metrics for all credit default swaps, evaluated bonds, loans and ABS included in its pricing services.

Greek structured finance and covered bond transactions can still achieve 'Aaa' ratings as long as they are backed by sufficient protection, Moody's Investors Service said.

AmeriCredit Financial Services prices its Assured Guaranty Corp.-insured deal. The $200 million auto-backed offering is lead managed by RBS Securities and Credit Suisse.

Moody's Investors Service lowered the rating of the senior unsecured debt of Ambac Financial Group to 'C' from 'Ca.'