SG Corporate & Investment Banking this month is pricing a handful of follow-on static synthetic collateralized debt obligations referencing high-grade U.S. residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities. Two of the deals will be privately placed and modeled on last month's USD2 billion deal, Carmel Valley, which consisted of credit-default swaps on AAA- to A-rated RMBS and structured without over-collateralization or interest-coverage triggers to favor the equity tranche. A third will be publicly placed and modeled on last month's USD2.7 billion AAA-rated synthetic CMBS deal, Sonoma Valley. The deals are named after California wine regions favored by SG's head of fixed income Gregoire Varenne.
The Carmel Valley deals reference about 80 names and have been modified slightly for higher yield. The first follow on will be USD1.7 billion and include a BBB bucket. The second will be about USD2 billion. SG is planning a third follow-on for early next year, but the details could not immediately be determined. The Sonoma Valley deal references 27 names and is already oversubscribed but reaching capacity at about USD2 billion. SG is planning a future follow on that may reach USD3 billion by referencing different names.
Tony Venutolo, executive director in structured credit products at SG in London, said the deals all are "massively oversubscribed," underscoring U.S. and European investor demand for highly-rated RMBS and CMBS collateral. They have been most popular with U.S. hedge funds and CDO managers and European dedicated ABS investors who have specific views on the U.S. mortgage markets. Credit Suisse also has issued several massive high-grade RMBS and CMBS CDOs in recent months (DW, 6/30), but most synthetic RMBS and CMBS deals in the market reference BBB collateral.