ABS

Global Leveraged Capital has formed an advisory arm, GLC Advisors & Co., to advise debtors, creditors and stakeholders in distressed companies, the firm said today.

Broadpoint Capital, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Broadpoint Securities Group, hired Frank Gehring as a managing director and global head of rates sales.

In April 2009 HOPE NOW members and the industry at large modified 127,000 mortgages and completed 143,000 repayment plans totaling 270,000 interventions, "the largest number in any month" since the alliance started to compile data.

BMW Financial Services is in the market with a $1.5 billion auto ABS transaction. The Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF)-eligible transaction is led by Barclays Capital and JPMorgan Securities.

Jefferies & Co. continues to expand its debt team, making additions to its high yield, leveraged loan and distressed debt sales, trading and research group.

The May remittance reports, reflecting activity in April, released yesterday showed modification rates slightly declining with the biggest drop coming from the 07-2 series, according to a Merrill Lynch report.

Standard and Poor’s released a request for comment on a proposal to change its ratings methodology for fixed-rate conduit and fusion deals. The agency stated that it expected to downgrade 25%, 60% and 90% of super-senior 'AAA' bonds issued in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Downgrades on subordinated tranches may be more severe for European structured finance transactions with interest subordination triggers than for those without, Fitch Ratings analysts said.

Despite a change in accounting rules intended to weaken the punch of other-than-temporary impairment charges, five Federal Home Loan banks said they lost a combined $146 million during the first quarter.

National housing prices fell 11.5% as of March compared to a year ago, a slight improvement from an 11.7% annual decline as of February, according to new data from First American CoreLogic and its LoanPerformance Home Price Index.

Meeting his Memorial Day goal, President Obama signed sweeping credit card reform into law Friday.

The group of hedge funds that sued MBIA and its insurance subsidiaries over their restructuring continued to make their case last week, arguing that its allegations of a fraudulent conveyance should not be dismissed.

In reaction to legislation enacted last week, credit card issuers are expected to retool their operations in a host of ways — not all of them obvious.

Freddie Mac has begun marketing its first multifamily securitization package as part of an effort to increase liquidity in the apartment loan sector.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) held its Sunset Seminar last week reporting on the progress of the Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility (TALF) program just as the Federal Reserve announced it would incorporate legacy CMBS assets as part of the CMBS leg of the program.

The bottom line, said Deutsche Bank Securities analysts, is that "[Federal Reserve] demand is the only factor keeping mortgages at this very rich level." How rich? They calculated FNMA 30-year 4% MBS has an OAS of around negative16 basis points to both swaps and Treasurys, Libor ZV of 67 basis points and Treasury ZV of 60 basis points.

Government actions to assist the ABCP market — including the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) Money Market Mutual Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (AMLF) and the Money Market Investor Funding Facility (MMIFF) — are helping to stabilize ABCP and other short-term instruments, Fitch Ratings reports.

The Treasury Department has agreed to invest $7.5 billion in GMAC Financial Services, the parent company of the nation's sixth largest residential servicer.

The Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) has filed a lawsuit against Lehman Brothers in an attempt to recoup more than $100 million in investment losses, the plan announced this week.

Manager Activity: AutosFull Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market