| US CMBS look to Dublin for listing |
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| The trend for US based commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) to list in Dublin continues with a further listing by Credit Suisse First Boston. |
Davy Stockbrokers (Killian Buckley)
As usual, the period under review saw a large number of Davy sponsored investment funds listing on the ISE. A noticeable trend in the previous months has been the prevalence of master-feeder structures, particularly Cayman domiciled, seeking an ISE listing. Mako Volplus Fund Inc is such a structure. Through its investment in Mako Volplus Fund L.P, the fund seeks to generate risk-adjusted returns by taking advantage of anomalies in the relative value of derivatives, underlying cash instruments and various securities.
Continuing the trend, BDT Invest Japan Fund (Accumulator) Limited and BDT Invest Japan Fund (Distributor) Limited both listed on the ISE. These funds invest into the same master fund - BDT Invest Japan Fund L.P. Magenta Fund Limited and Affinium Fund Limited were two further master-feeder structures that listed during the period.
The popularity of the hedge fund continued unabated. The Keynes Fund Limited uses proprietary models and quantitative economic research to attempt to identify anomalies in the valuation of securities that arise from time to time due to the volatility of financial markets. Reyl (Ireland) Alternative Strategies Fund Plc is an Irish fund of hedge funds - another popular structure -, which seeks to generate absolute returns, generally independent of market direction, by investing in a range of collective investment schemes, employing a diverse range of hedging strategies.
The period under review also saw investment funds from other domiciles listing. Abraxas Fund is an opportunity fund, domiciled in Jersey, which combines relative value and macro strategies. The fund will invest in global fixed income, equity, currency and derivatives markets.
Ernst & Young (Catherine Henry)
As usual, Ernst & Young have been particularly busy on the listing of asset-backed securities and, again, there were some noteworthy additions to the Daily Official List. One unusual asset-backed security that Ernst & Young listed during the period under review was a residential mortgage-backed security. The issuer was a trust that was structured as a programme. The trust was established to issue multiple series of notes or certificates backed by segregated pools of residential mortgages. Series 2002-HE3 was the first series of certificates to be issued by the trust and was backed by the first segregated pool to be created within the trust. One class of certificates within this series was listed. The commercial mortgage-backed securities market in the US continues to look towards Dublin for a listing and Credit Suisse First Boston had yet another such deal admitted to listing during the period.
Also during the month, we saw our usual steady stream of plain vanilla CBO deals. Anthracite CDO II Ltd. & Anthracite CDO II Corp, E*Trade ABS CDO I Limited & E*Trade ABS CDO I LLC and Longport Funding Limited & Longport Funding Corp are examples of such deals. Rhombus CDO Limited, a Cayman limited company, listed three classes of floating rate notes. This is the first CDO deal with only an issuer (rather than having co-issuers) that we have seen for some time.
On the investment funds side of the business, we added new sub-funds and classes to existing structures, domiciled in both the Cayman Islands and Dublin and received approval for a number of sub-funds classes and new structures.
Goodbody Stockbrokers (Sarah Fallon)
The February/March period saw a variety of investment funds listing in Dublin. In particular, Aurelius Fund Group Ltd. is a Cayman Island umbrella fund whose first sub-fund, Aurelius Large Cap Fund will invest in a diversified global portfolio across a variety of investment markets using proprietary investment strategies, including both leveraged and arbitrage trading techniques. A Bermuda domiciled fund, Labarum Fund Limited is investing through a master/feeder structure, which will employ event-driven arbitrage, long-short fundamental investing and long-short global macro-technical investment strategies. Another master/feeder structure, Gamma Opportunity Fund - Series II, Ltd. will invest through a limited partnership in small and micro-cap, North American companies listed on internationally recognised exchanges. Barclays Global Investors Diversified Alpha Plus Funds added a new sub-fund, Barclays Global Investors Short Seller Fund I which will invest in long and short securities. Finally, Prescient Alpha Fund added new classes to its sub-fund, Prescient Alpha Series I which invests in a portfolio of managed funds.
There was also plenty of activity during the period on the asset backed security side of the business with several new series being listed. Signum Finance II plc, Signum Finance III plc, Spices Finance Limited, Heather Finance Limited, Morgan Stanley’s Reg S Program and Zenith Investments Limited all added new series. CABS Limited, a Cayman issuer, listed fixed and floating rate notes this month, which are backed by bonds issued by Credia Funding Limited, which are ultimately backed by beneficial interests in a Japanese trust, Credia Master Trust.
NCB Stockbrokers (Joanne McEnteggart)
BlueBay Asset Management Limited has launched a new Fund The BlueBay Emerging Market Total Return Fund Limited, which has been incorporated in Cayman Islands and which through The BlueBay (Master) Fund II Limited is to seek to achieve capital appreciation via investment in the debt obligations of issuers based in emerging countries worldwide; including foreign currency debt, local currency debt and credit derivatives.
Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited are acting as manager for another new fund Xavex - Convertible Arbitrage 7 Fund which listed this period and which was established as a unit trust in Jersey.
Allometry Management and Marketing Limited launched a new Fund Allometry Global Growth Fund Limited, which listed two share classes and is to seek to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns with low volatility, limited market correlation and minimal downside risk. In order to achieve this objective, the Company intends to take positions in the equities, the fixed income and other financial instruments of exchange-listed growth companies competing within the global economy. Highland Opportunity Fund Limited has added 28 new series to its Class A and Class B Shares. A new class was added to J.P. Morgan Diversified Fund Limited.
Further series were issued in the Merrill Lynch programmes - Xenon Capital plc which issued Series 33, Series 35, Series 36 and Series 37 and the Argon Capital plc which issued Series 19. Duke Funding III, Ltd. and Duke Funding III, Inc listed its Class A-1, Class A-2, Class C-1, Class C-2, Class C-3 together with its preference shares and pass-through notes. Duke Funding IV, Ltd. and Duke Funding IV, Inc listed its Class A-1, Class A-2, Class B, Class C together with its preference shares and composite securities.
RSM Robson Rhodes, (Grainne O’Farrelly)
There were a number of interesting listings on both the funds side and the asset backed security side during the period under review.
Knoll Capital Management, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, listed its Cayman domiciled fund, Knoll Capital Fund II this month. This fund has an investment philosophy based on individual stock selection, which in turn is a function of searching for mispriced issues with a high probability of closing the valuation gap. The fund also actively employs short selling strategies for individual stocks.
RSM Robson Rhodes also listed several specialist debt securities. Cedar Lake CBO Ltd listed four tranches including Preferred Shares, totalling US$134,300,000. The Class A-IL Notes were issued by MBIA Insurance Corporation, which is the principal operating subsidiary of MBIA Inc. The Collateral Manager for this deal was TCW Asset Management Company and the underwriter was Bear Stearns.
Two tranches of Northstar CBO 1997-1, for which Bear Stearns also acted as underwriter, were listed. The Collateral Manager for this deal was Northstar Investment Manager Corporation.
Katonah IV also listed on the Exchange this month. The initial purchasers for this deal was Credit Suisse First Boston. The Collateral Manager was Katonah Capital, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kohlberg & Company, LLC, a private equity firm. All nine tranches were listed totalling US$350,000,000. |
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