Wharton Asset Management is marketing a new collateralized debt obligation with a roadshow that will focus on investors in Europe and Asia. The vehicle, dubbed G-Square, will be backed by a $1.25 billion pool of highly rated asset-backed securities. The collateral will predominantly be sourced from the U.S. Marketing on the new vehicle began earlier this month.
"The underlying portfolio was originally $1 billion, but got upsized because of Wharton's ability to ramp the assets combined with investor interest," said an official on the structured credit syndicate desk at Citigroup in London, lead underwriter on the deal. Dan Cook, head of structured products at Wharton in London, declined comment.
Wharton's previous CDO, H2 Finance, featured an innovative structure where the purchase of assets was funded through the repo market. This financing methodology is not being repeated in G-Square, which funds the super senior through a total return swap with Citigroup.