Crédit Agricole Indosuez last week completed a USD50 million single tranche structured mezzanine note, believed to be one of the first sold in the mainland. "There's been lots of potential for CDOs in all of Asia--it's only natural that customers in China also follow the trend," said Pierre Trecourt, Asian head of credit derivatives structuring at CAI in Hong Kong.
The seven-year single-tranche deal is referenced to a USD1.5 billion portfolio of global credit default-swaps. The investor selected 60 credits for the portfolio from a universe of 500 potential names, according to Loïc Fery, global head of credit derivatives and structures in London.
Goldman Sachs last month structured the first synthetic CDO launched in China for the Agricultural Bank of China. With this market just beginning to take off, banks have been scrambling to market credit derivatives in China. "The Chinese structured credit market is moving ahead in terms of product range as well as its ability to do big tickets," said Fery.
