Securitization

Freddie Mac exchanged existing bonds from its portfolio for mirror certificates for the first time, completing a key test that is central to the creation of a uniform mortgage-backed security.

After spinning off its infrastructure-related businesses in November, it is more focused on rail manufacturing and leasing; the new deal is backed by 7% of its fleet.

While reinsurers are becoming more comfortable with the risk it is offloading, the GSE wants to maintain control of the workout process for loans that go bad.

Ares' transaction priced at spreads similar to its prior deal in February but wide of its initial 2019 transaction in January; Golub beat the spread of its prior BSL CLO, in February.

Depending on market conditions and demand from whole loan buyers, it could fund 25% to 35% of fix-and-flip loans through deals like the $219 million one it just completed.

These deals offer clear benefits for managers looking to lower funding costs; a survey from JPMorgan indicates investors have their own reasons for liking them.

At $230 million, GSMBST 2019-PJ1 is notably smaller than recent transactions from JPMorgan and Redwood Trust; borrowers also have less equity in their homes.

THL Credit is marketing its first middle-market CLO in a $410.5 million portfolio backed by receivables from its direct-lending originations.

Moody's assigned an Aa1 to the Class A notes to be issued by the $215.8 million BFNS 2019-1; that's one notch higher than the comparable tranche of its prior deal.

The $155.7 million secured combo note offering is backed by the full face value of three classes of mezzanine notes plus a majority portion of the residual notes from Oaktree's first CLO of 2019.

The €249 million Taurus 019-1 FR is backed by a single loan from Bank of America on a portfolio of 206 mixed-use properties leased to French electric utility EDF.

Many of the credit characteristics of Verus 2019-INV1 are similar to those of the deal Invictus completed in December, but the loans are less geographically concentrated.

The $503.3 million Madison Park XXXIV has a 133-basis-point spread for its $294.5 million Class A-1 loan tranche.

The boutique investment bank will retain a 45% minority stake in its former credit advisors unit, which was renamed and infused with additional capital by its new parent.

Unusually, all of the loans in the $374 million transaction were purchased from a single originator, Impac Mortgage.

The refinancing also extends the reinvestment period of the $410 million Garrison BSL CLO 2016-1 by two years; the deal is non-callable for two years as well.

Gleysteen's return builds on a recent trend of old-school issuers revving up new CLO platforms

Two Harbors Investment Corp., which grew its servicing portfolio by 22% in the fourth quarter, priced a common stock offering to raise funds to buy more rights as well as mortgage-backed securities.

The JFSA published a final rule outlining the hoops U.S. CLO managers will have to jump through if Japanese banks are to avoid a higher risk weighting on their holdings; it remains to be seen how much of a burden this will be.

The loans in CIM Trust 2019-INV1 are conventional mortgages made to investors either for business purposes (85.6%) or cash-out refinancing for personal use (14.4%), according to DBRS.