TCW
The Los Angeles-based CDO manager was praised not only for leading the pack in volume of deals under management, but also for its access to collateral, research and innovation. The manager was cited for having dedicated trading desks for separate asset classes. Time and again, it was commended for the quality of its research. It was also lauded for innovation, with such deals as the fully synthetic CDO squared Visage transaction and the Westways series, which contained an innovative use of convexity trades with little or no credit risk within the CDO structure. Jeffrey Gundlach, Lou Lucido, Sonia Mangelsdorf and Roland Ho lead the team.