Massachusetts Financial Services is prepping a $300 million real estate collateralized debt obligation for pricing in the first half of next month, says a CDO market participant. The offering will be the second CDO originated by this Boston-based manager. Wachovia Securities will be the underwriter for this transaction, called Crest Dartmouth Street 2003-1. Michelle Tan, v.p. at Wachovia, declined to comment. Joshua Marston, portfolio manager at MFS, did not return calls by press time.
A pool of REITs and commercial mortgage-backed securities will back the notes. The collateral mix could not be determined as of last week, but in its previous deal, MFS had 60% REITs and 40% CMBS in its collateral pool. Because the structure is static, MFS acts as a collateral administrator or servicer, rather than a collateral manager. The difference means that at closing time--late March--the deal will be fully ramped up and no reinvestment will be allowed.