Morgan Stanley and SG Corporate and Investment Banking are pitching structured credit deals featuring constant proportion portfolio insurance, joining a growing group of firms in Europe. The houses are marketing principal-protected static credit portfolios at a time when investors are becoming more interested in the transactions, according to officials.
SG is managing a portfolio of iTraxx indices with CPPI and is marketing the seven-year deal, named Jet Stream, to an existing client base of institutional investors. Hubert Le Liepvre, deputy head of the structured credit group at SG in London, said Jet Stream is an easy-to-understand product. "This is the first phase where our investors can learn more about it [CPPI]," he said. Le Liepvre declined to speculate on the potential size of the transaction.
Morgan Stanley is offering a principal-protected static portfolio of iTraxx tranches using CPPI, according to industry officials. The fund is long the equity tranche and short the mezzanine tranche of the indices. An official said the firm is also looking to structure a managed CPPI fund, adding CPPI was "flavor of the month" at the U.S. house. Annabel Littlewood, head of credit-default swap trading in Europe, declined comment on both deals.
Other houses in the U.K. to structure CPPI deals this year include BNP Paribas (DW, 6/27), ABN AMRO (DW, 1/28) and Calyon, which operates an ongoing issuance program of CPPI deals called Credit Sail.
