Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund, or TIAA-CREF, is gathering investors to participate in a $300 million collateralized debt obligation. CDO market participants say the public pension specialist is ramping up real estate-related assets, including commercial mortgage-backed and home equity asset-backeds, to include in a pool that will back debt issued by a related SPV. Wachovia Securities is underwriting the offering. The transaction, known as TIAA Real Estate CDO, will be the first time the fund has acted as collateral manager this year. It issued a similar real estate-focused CDO in the first half of last year which was managed by Morgan Stanley. Pat Connor, a spokesman for TIAA-CREF, was unable to comment by press time and CDO bankers at Wachovia in New York and Charlotte declined to comment.
TIAA-CREF In Market With Real Estate CDO