ABS resistance is melting (very slowly)

Another Fine Mezz

Holiday season is in full flow it seems for the Another Fine Mezz team. Last week, usual host, Tom Lemmon, was enjoying an early Summer break, and so this week he stepped into cover for European ABS reporter, George Smith.

This was a week characterised by election excitement, with every issuer still in the market looking to be done sooner rather than later. Deals from Cerberus and Ford's German branch followed with no hiccups but the visible pipeline is now quiet.

In the meantime, building from Bank of America Research's report on insurance companies using European securitization, which showed it to be pitifully low, there were signs in the UK that insurers are starting to take a closer look once more.

It's a small change, but it is yet another morsel of evidence that suggests the resistance to European securitization is thawing, albeit slowly.

In CLOs, Arini priced yet another successful Euro CLO to go along with its growing reputation despite its infancy, while a number of resets and refinancings got away well too.

CLO reporter, Victoria Thiele also released a first half of the year league table for both the US and Europe. Both markets experienced a better than expected year with tightening and lots of issuance, the only question is how much more will come in the second half of the year.