Commerzbank Securities is going to be making some changes to the focus of its London-based European credit research team. Philip Crate, head of European credit research, says the team, currently about seven-strong, will reallocate some of its resources to look at high-yield, cross-over and emerging market credits. He also plans to add one or two analysts to the team.
Crate says that at present Commerzbank's credit research covers only investment-grade credits. Some team members who cover telecoms and general industrials, for example, are going to start looking at names further down the credit curve. The reason for this is the growing importance of triple-B credits in the European markets and because there is also increased interest from investors in going even further down the credit spectrum to buy high-yield and cross-over names.