Securitization

Babson Capital has joined a growing list of money management firms starting closed-end loan funds. In Babson’s case, the fund will invest in leverage loans and high yield bonds in both North America and Western Europe.

A significant sector of the housing market is still being driven by sales of bank-owned homes and those in some stage of foreclosure, according to a report out Thursday from Realtytrac.

Fannie Mae issued $34.5 billion of MBS in April, a 36% plunge from the prior month, according to figures released by the GSE Friday morning. In April its MBS issuance rose 4.2%.

The coming change in the conforming loan limit will have a much larger impact on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) than on those purchased or securitized by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA) is selling a $481 million Fannie Mae bulk residential servicing portfolio that has just five months of seasoning and no delinquencies or foreclosures.

Zipcar has renewed its ABS program led by Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank (Credit Agricole CIB).

Norske Skog's said it was seeking to raise €300 million ($426 million) via a senior unsecured five-year bond that will be callable after three years and will replace debt due next year.

A counterparty credit risk survey conducted by Quantifi shows financial firms have already or plan to implement major changes in their counterparty risk systems.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) will have Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro as keynote speaker at its 2011 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on June 22.

A Lloyds TSB Bank hybrid ABCP, Cancara Asset Securitization, has restructured two transactions to remove structured liquidity support that had substantially limited the risk of deterioration of credit quality of the receivables pools for commercial paper holders.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Credit Suisse $4.5 million and Merrill Lynch $3 million for misrepresenting delinquency data and inadequate supervision with regards to their RMBS issuance.

Regulators plan to reshape the GSEs by slowly pricing them out of the market, according to a report from Deutsche Bank Securities.

Principia Partners released the latest version of its structured finance platform called Principia SFP.

The U.S. Treasury sold a portion of its AIG shares, in a move that reduces the government's holding by 20%.

The aggregate value of commercial real estate (CRE) loans priced by DebtX backing CMBS rose to 80.9% as of April 29 from 79.8% as of March 31. Loan values were 76.4% as of April 30, 2010, according to a release from the company.

Although rising new issuance and increasingly successful loan modifications are helping slow CMBS loan defaults, delinquencies likely will climb 12% this year, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings on fixed-rate conduit loans.

Freddie Mac's MBS issuance fell 5% in April following a 38% drop in March, according to a monthly activity report the GSE issued Wednesday morning.

Retail originations by commercial banks and savings institutions fell 30% in the first quarter, on a sequential basis, according to new figures compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

DriveTime Automotive Group is in the market with a $246,88 million deal called DT Auto Owner Trust 2011-2 (DTAOT 2011-2).

Mortgage application activity rose 1.1% in the week ending May 20 even as mortgage rates eased back from their recent lows.