Michael Ogan will join Banc One on July 14 as a principal in the Chicago group that underwrites CDOs and credit derivatives. The unit has been in existence under group head Tim Van Housen for about ayear, but it has only handled derivatives transactions so far. By adding Ogan, the bank hopes to routinely structure and sell funded and synthetic CDOs backed by its clients’ structured products andloans. Ogan had been the head of structured finance at Jefferies & Co. in New York.
Citibank has added first-loss pieces to four of its commercial- paper conduits: APRECO, Ciesco, CRC Funding and CXC. The bank built in the equity to avoid giving on-balance-sheet treatment to the vehicles’ underlying assets under the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s strict new accounting rules, which took effect on June 30. Rumor has it that Citi offered equity investors returns in the neighborhood of 25%, which is likely to become a benchmark for other conduit operators that follow suit.
Barclays Capital’s asset-securitization group has recruited salesman Mark Opila to focus on home-equity-loan products. Opila jumped to Barclays from Dresdner Kleinwort, where he also worked in sales. Before that, he was at Chase Manhattan. Opila’s addition appears to be part of a broader push by Barclays to expand its home- equity securitization team. It’s expected to hire additional asset- backed specialists for that effort. Opila reports to U.S. credit- sales chief Andy Rankowitz.
Matthew Webster has abruptly departed from the London commercial- MBS unit of Goldman Sachs, only three months after joining the bank from Morgan Stanley. Webster, a vice president, had been a key player in Morgan Stanley’s powerhouse commercial-mortgage- securitization program and was expected to play a similar role in Goldman’s bid to stake a claim in the competitive European market. There was no official word on the reason for Webster’s departure, or his next step. Meanwhile, Goldman continues to scout commercial-MBS talent for its European structured- and principal-finance group, which is co-headed by managing directors Mark Kogan and Bill Young.
British Broadcasting Corp. is planning to sell 800 million British pounds ($1.3 billion) of fixed-rate commercial-mortgage securities next week to finance the redevelopment of its London headquarters. The government-owned broadcaster is conducting the issue, which is part of a “sale-lease-back” transaction, through Morgan Stanley’s European Eoan Conduit, or ELOC program. Moody’s and S&P were expected to assign top ratings to the single-tranche offering, based on a wrap from MBIA. The BBC’s headquarters, known as the Broadcasting House, is located at One Portland Place.
Invesco Institutional is working on its first securitization of structured products, called Bluegrass ABS CDO I. The Atlanta unit of Amvescap, a money manager headquartered in London, has tapped Credit Suisse First Boston to run the books on the $401 million transaction. The deal, expected to price later this month, is similar to South Coast III, a $500 million securitization of subordinate asset-backed bonds that Citigroup priced June 25 on behalf of TCW Asset Management. Both deals are backed mostly by U.S. residential MBS. All of Invesco’s previous CDOs were collateralized by leveraged loans and junk-rated corporate bonds.
Word has it that Joshua Siegel recently left Citigroup’s CDO- underwriting unit to start a hedge-fund firm. As a vice president at Citi, Siegel crafted “collateralized fund obligations” backed by alternative-investment vehicles that purchase shares of other hedge funds.
Constitution State Corporate Credit Union is seeking a buyside professional to perform management and research duties for its $700 million portfolio of asset-backed securities and private-label MBS. Candidates should be familiar with home-equity-loan and commercial- mortgage securitizations, two areas where the Wallingford, Conn., institution wants to expand its investment activities. The new hire would report to chief investment officer Jeff Navin. Constitution State performs financial services for credit unions across the country.
Copyright HARRISON SCOTT PUBLICATIONS Jul 4, 2003
