There is a growing interest for regionally-based CDO managers, rather than the previous reliance on funds based in Europe or the U.S. "Investors want managers that are held accountable within the region," said George Sun, director of structured products at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. Sun mentioned Singapore-based Prudential Asset Management's Silk Road Plus global synthetic CDO, which has a managed portfolio with around 50% credit exposure to Asian names.
Even for asset-backed securities CDOs, Sun said, "There's no longer really a need to go all the way to the U.S. to find a manager." Another transaction now being priced is Singapore's ST Asset Management's managed ABS CDO which incorporates a bucket of synthetic securities referenced to CDOs and other structured finance deals, structured by Merrill.
