Standard & Poor's is looking to hire an associate director to help generate reports on the managers of collateralized debt obligations. Mark Gaw, head of CDO manager evaluations in New York, says the hire would be an addition to meet increasing demand from investors for information on collateral managers and their performance. Currently, the team is comprised of Gaw and three others.
The CDO manager evaluation group, which was formed two years ago, has to date produced reports on 38 firms that manage CDOs. It is under the umbrella of the rating agency's global CDO group but is run independently of the credit ratings process, according to Gaw. The group also plans to add an internal transfer in the coming months in New York, as well as take on an analyst in London to cover European asset managers. However, it is unclear whether this person would be dedicated to the manager evaluation group since there are fewer buy-siders managing CDOs than there are in the U.S., Gaw says.
Fitch Ratings also has a CDO manager group, albeit a more nascent one. It began producing reports earlier this year. Moody's Investors Service does not have a separate team to evaluate CDO managers.