TCW Asset Management is in the market to replace Fred Horton, managing director in the collateralized debt obligation group, who recently resigned and has since joined GSC Partners, a specialty credit investor. In the coming months, TCW plans to hire a full-time professional to be based in New York to assume Horton's role as a liaison between Wall Street banks and the asset manager, according to Jeffrey Gundlach, president.
Gundlach said TCW, which has $11 billion in CDOs under management, will not immediately replace Horton and instead will consolidate his duties among existing staff. "The equity and mezz financings were difficult to place [at the advent of the asset-backed CDO market in 2001]," Gundlach said. But now, "it's become much easier and the deals are oversubscribed. Now the equity is the easiest thing to sell," Gundlach said, attributing this to a universal bid for yield. As a result of the ease in selling subordinate classes, TCW will not immediately replace Horton, he said. Horton could not be reached by press time.