Investments

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (formerly Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon) has named Robert A. Davis Jr. as special counsel in its tax and ERISA practice.

Nearly four in five expect spreads to widen this summer, which is not good news for spec-grade U.S. companies that binged on borrowing levels over the last two years.

After the second-busiest quarter for primary European CLO issuance to start 2018, a two-week April lull in the market was ended with deal pricings by Intermediate Capital and Investcorp.

Jay Huang, a longtime Citigroup veteran who joined in January, is developing a high-tech trading-desk operation to enhance the company's portfolio of CLO investments.

The total volume of CLO refinancings for the month to date has reachd $11.3 billion, as managers continue to take advantage of the repeal of skin-in-the-game rules for this asset class.

With no more concerns about triggering risk retention on its large pile of older deals, Blackstone is dusting off CLO portfolios that have long been eligible for a refi makeover.

The future secondary mortgage market entities will receive high investment grade ratings, even as there is no clarity on their scope or form, Fitch Ratings said.

The LSTA has declared the era of risk retention for open-market CLOs is over, pending an unlikely U.S. Supreme Court intervention. "We believe we can exhale," the trade group said in a statement.

The $31.7 billion in collateralized loan obligation deals priced year-to-date is the most in a first quarter in the post-crisis era.

Fortress Investment Group's $702.8 portfolio of SME loans is the first since Softbank Group acquired Fortress in December.

Managers are regaining the ability to amend older deals that they previously locked down to maintain risk-retention exemptions.

The U.S. CLO manager breaks the ice with its first euro-denominated deal, which priced Friday and will close in May when it is about 75% ramped up.

The deadline to seek an en banc hearing has now passed, and skin-in-the-game rules for collateralized loan obligations could be off the books by April 2.

The deadline to appeal the rollback of risk-retention requirements for CLO managers expired at midnight last night, but Voya Alternative Asset Management is not taking advantage.

The sponsor has only identified $552 million of collateral for the $610 million deal; it has another four months to put the remaining $88 million to work in additional assets.

The money manager is preparing to refinance a $400 million deal originally printed in March 2016 that is currently grandfathered from risk retention rules - without bringing the deal into compliance.

A bill to allow captive insurance companies to be reinstated as members of the Federal Home Loan Bank System appears to be dividing the FHLB community.

The €413.5 million BlackRock European CLO V is the fourth euro-denominated CLO to launch this month, and asset manager's first since BlackRock Euro CLO IV priced in November.

Octagon is refinancing a 2013-vintage CLO for the second time, while Anchorage is using the assets of a deal issued in 2012 (and later refinanced in 2016) for its first new-issue deal of 2018.

Issuance of Ginnie Mae securities backed by reverse mortgages rose above $1 billion for the second time in two years, according to the government agency's latest monthly report.