Scott Krase, chair of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association and co-portfolio manager at Oak Hill Advisors, kicked the event off with a run down of the association's achievements in 2006 and its goals for 2007.
Krase highlighted the association's work on assigning CUSIPs to credit facilities. The LSTA aims to have CUSIPs assigned to all leveraged and investment-grade loans. Forty-five percent of CUSIPs have been applied to facilities, said Allison Taylor, executive director of the LSTA. This year the LSTA launched an online CUSIP application platform with Standard & Poor's. Agent banks can use the new system to assign unique identifiers to new deals online. Krase called for the support of the market on the project.
Krase also noted the growth of the LSTA's institutional investor membership. It currently has 64 buyside members and he said he would like to see that number grow to 100.