CLOs

n JP Morgan this week launched its innovative 'CBO of CBOs', Zais Investment Grade Ltd (Zing), to a warm reception from European investors. The $345m deal is a standard managed cashflow collateralised bond obligation, but instead of high yield and emerging market bonds and loans, it is backed by mezzanine tranches from 20 other CBOs.

Deutsche refines UK student loan template DEUTSCHE Bank this week launched the second securitisation of UK student loans, parcelling the

* Bankers Trust will likely price its £230m securitisation for Tussauds Group, the UK company that operates theme parks, waxworks museums and other attractions, today (Friday). CIBC World Markets, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and West LB will act as co-managers. The 25 year Euro/144A deal will offer three single-A rated tranches and one rated triple-B, by Fitch IBCA and Moody's. The £50m class 'A1', with a 6.5 year average life, and £20m 'A2' bonds, with an average life of 11.4 years, will both be priced over three month Libor.

GREENWICH NatWest has introduced a new funding vehicle for UK housing associations with a £94.25m deal for RSL Finance (No 1) Plc. The transaction securitises loans made to two housing associations, Springboard and Beacon, which in turn are secured on a portfolio of residential social housing. The vehicle is authorised to originate further loans itself, or to acquire assets of Greenwich NatWest. "We have assets that are potentially very fungible," said Paul Townsend, assistant director in asset securitisation at Greenwich NatWest. "It will not be a regular issuer, no more than once every 12 months, but we would like to see a growth factor. Above all we must be sure that there is no degradation of the pool."

NOMURA'S principal finance group this week launched the largest securitisation of UK pubs, parcelling rents and beer sales revenues from its Unique Pub Co into £810m of bonds with maturities out to 25 years. Nomura created Unique in December last year, by selecting 2,614 pubs from the 4,300 in the Inntrepreneur and Spring Inns portfolios that it had bought from Grand Met and Fosters for £1.2bn at the end of 1997.

JOINT bookrunners Bear Stearns, De Nationale Investeringsbank and ING Barings-BBL this week launched the fourth in a series of securitisations of Dutch residential mortgages for subsidiaries of DNIB, or insurance companies that originate mortgages financed by the bank. The Dutch tax system is highly favourable to home ownership, and has encouraged insurance companies to originate sophisticated savings and investment mortgages linked to insurance policies -- the combination is in part a tax shelter for the borrowers.

BANK OF Tokyo-Mitsubishi this week priced its $1bn securitisation of loans to US corporates, Millennium Loan Trust. JP Morgan and Tokyo-Mitsubishi International ran the books jointly for the deal's $450m 'A1' tranche -- unusually for a US CLO, it has a passthrough rather than a soft bullet structure. With an average life of 1.9 years and expected maturity in July 2002, it priced at 22bp over one month Libor.

Croatia Creditanstalt is arranging a $100m project finance deal for Croatian telecoms company VIP-net. The project should be supported by the export credit agencies of Austria and Sweden because VIP-net has delivery contracts with Siemens and Ericsson.

BANK AUSTRIA this week priced its innovative partially funded securitisation of bonds from its investment book. Lead managed by Citibank and Salomon Smith Barney, the transaction achieves substantial regulatory capital relief for Bank Austria on $1.2bn of bonds originally bought by Creditanstalt, which merged with Bank Austria in September. "Bank Austria has no shortage of capital, but this deal is part of our strategy to ensure that we can develop the business while retaining more than adequate levels of capital," said Mark Bowles, senior director at Bank Austria in London. "We have very good skills as an ABS investor, and can originate this kind of assets effectively, but we want to reduce the capital they absorb."