Collateralized Loan Obligations Tag Archives

COVID-19 Exacerbates High Risks of Collateralized Loan Obligations for Investors

Published on: April 27, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Collateralized Loan Obligations Are Losing Value In The Wake Of The Coronavirus

Investors who have suffered losses from collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) should contact one of our broker fraud lawyers right away.

While the pandemic is responsible for much of the volatility impacting the markets, bad advice by your stockbroker and their firm recommending that you invest in this form of security may also have contributed to how your portfolio has been affected.

Leveraged Loan Defaults Hit $23B

Published on: December 5, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Leveraged Loan Defaults Hit $23 Billion – The Highest In Two Years

According to Forbes, leveraged loan defaults are now at $23B, which is the highest they’ve reached in two years. Not only that but between October and November of this year, 11 issuers defaulted to the amount of $7.8B. None of this is good news for the market or investors.

Comprised of lending syndicates to speculative companies that have junk grade credit, leveraged loans are high-risk credits that the US Securities and Exchange Commission does not regulate. Now, Forbes is reporting that leveraged loans are defaulting from every area of the economy, with the energy and retail sectors being hit especially hard.

Former RBS Bond Trader Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Published on: December 21, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Adam Siegel, an ex-Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) bond trader, has plead guilty to fraud over his involvement in a multi-million dollar scheme in which he lied to customers so that they would pay higher prices for bonds. Siegel, 37, served as the co-head of RBS’s U.S. Asset-Backed Securities, Mortgage-Backed Securities and Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Trading groups. He supervised and traded fixed income investment securities, including collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

According to prosecutors, Siegel and others lied about the asking price of sellers to buyers, as well as the price that buyers were willing to pay to sellers, while pocketing the difference. He made misrepresentations so that customers would pay higher prices while those selling bonds would end up getting deflated prices, both of which benefitted RBS.

Sometimes, he and co-conspirators would make misrepresentations to buyers by telling them that a fake third-party was selling the bonds. This allowed the firm to charge an unwarranted commission.

Ex-Nomura, RBS Trader Enters Guilty Plea to Bond Fraud

Published on: March 11, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Matthew Katke, formerly of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) and Nomura Holdings (NMR) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud for his involvement in a multi-million dollar bond scam to bilk customers. As part of his deal he will cooperate with prosecutors into its investigation of mortgage-linked bonds and collateralized debt obligations.

Katke traded securities that were backed collateralized loan obligations, which are high-yield corporate debt. The charge is related to activities he engaged in while at RBS. Prosecutors say that Katke and co-conspirators made misrepresentations to get customers to pay prices that were inflated and sellers to say yes to deflated bond prices. The scam took place from around 2008 to June 2014.

Court documents say that Katke and co-conspirators sought to profits on bond trades through the false statements they gave customers. They misrepresented the prices that RBS had paid to get a bond or what it was asking to sell it. They also misled clients about whether a bond was from RBS’s inventory or a third party. RBS is cooperating with the probe.

Cayman Islands LLC Must Replead CLO Securities Case Against Deutsche Bank

Published on: June 24, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York says that Arco Capital Corp. a Cayman Islands LLC, has 20 days to replead its $37M collateralized loan obligation against Deutsche Bank AG (DB) that accuses the latter of alleged misconduct related to a 2006 CLO. According to Judge Robert Sweet, even though Arco Capital did an adequate job of alleging a domestic transaction within the Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, its claims are time-barred, per the two-year post-discovery deadline and five-year statute of repose.

Deutsche Bank had offered investors the chance to obtain debt securities linked to portfolio of merging markets investments and derivative transactions it originated. CRAFT EM CLO, which is a Cayman Islands company created by the bank, effected the transaction and gained synthetic exposure via credit default transactions. For interest payment on the notes, investors consented to risk the principal due on them according to the reference portfolio. However, if a reference obligation, which had to satisfy certain eligibly requirements, defaulted in a way that the CDS agreements government, Deutsche Bank would receive payment that would directly lower the principal due on the notes when maturity was reached.

Arco maintains that the assets that experienced credit events did not meet the criteria. It noted that Deutsche Bank wasn’t supposed to use the transaction as a repository for lending assets that were distressed, toxic, or “poorly underwritten.”

Synthetic CDOs Once Are Once Again In Demand Among Investors

Published on: June 4, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Despite the damage attributed to them during the 2008 credit market crisis, synthetic collateralized debt obligations are once again in high demand among investors. The popularity of these risky investments, with their high returns and rock-bottom interest rates, are so high that even after being denounced by investors and a lot of lawmakers back in the day, now Morgan Stanley (MS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM ) in London are among those seeking to package these instruments.

CDOs allow investors to bet on a basket of companies’ credit worthiness. While the basic version of these instruments pool bonds and give investors an opportunity to put their money in a portion of that pool, synthetic CDOs pool the insurance-like derivatives contracts on the bonds. These latest synthetic CDOs, like their counterparts that existed during the crisis, are cut up into varying levels of returns and risks, with investors wanting the highest returns likely buying portion with the greatest risk.

Granted, synthetic CDOs do somewhat spread the risk. Yet, also can increase the financial harm significantly if companies don’t make their debt payments.