CDOs

Issuance in the CLO market picked up in the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, with Guggenheim Investment Management, Apollo Global Management, GSO/Blackstone Debt Funds Management and Lyon Capital Management pricing CLOs totaling $1.7 billion.

Specialized asset management firm Dock Street Capital Management (DSCM) has opened an office in Hong Kong.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating a complex $1 billion investment deal Citigroup arranged leading up to the financial crisis.

Defunct bond insurer Syncora Guarantee reported positive net income for the first three quarters of the year, but said near-term insolvency is still a concern if its insured portfolio tumbles.

Morningside Park CLO is in the market with a $400 million arbitrage cash flow transaction that will be managed by GSO / Blackstone Debt Funds Management.

Ambac Financial Group hurried into bankruptcy protection this week because it was worried the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) might gut the entire company — including its sacrosanct bond insurance subsidiary, according to court documents.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said it fined Goldman Sachs $650,000 for failing to disclose that two of its registered representatives had received Wells Notices, which indicate that investigations of operating practices are under way.

Ambac Financial Group announced late Monday it filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

At a press conference following the European Central Bank's (ECB) rate decision last week, its President Jean-Claude Trichet said that the ECB is looking to create disincentives for banks who refinance exclusively through the bank.

Markit has created the first electronic link between agent banks and lenders so that they can have real-time sharing of comprehensive agent data on syndicated loans.

Independent broker-dealer Braver Stern Securities hired Peter Howard as a managing director and head trader of CDOs, CLOs and esoteric ABS.

Principia Partners recently surveyed over 500 investors, issuers, regulators and other structured finance professionals on the subject of investor due diligence.

Katten Muchin Rosenman hired five structured finance lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf, including five structured finance partners in New York and a financial products tax partner in Washington, D.C.

Landon Parsons joined Moelis & Co. as senior advisor in the firm’s risk advisory group.

Ambac Financial Group, parent of the junk-rated bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp., said in a regulatory filing Monday morning that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy by yearend because it has been unable to raise fresh capital.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposal of Oct. 13 to require issuers to review the underlying assets in their ABS should create a much more uniform set of review standards - to the benefit of investors. However, it could significantly alter, perhaps to the ABS market's detriment, how the reviews are performed.

The so-called foreclosure scandal has grabbed headlines over the past month. ASR's November issue looks beyond the mainstream coverage to its effect on bondholders.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) recently finalized its Safe Harbor that protects the assets that are transferred to bank-sponsored securitization vehicles from a financial institution's FDIC receivership.

There are three regulations that are causing a hullabaloo among CLO market participants.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is establishing a new effective date of May 16, 2011 for reporting ABS to the trade reporting and compliance engine (TRACE).