Japanese whales and US gatecrashers

One week into the new and improved second life of Another Fine Mezz, host Tom Lemmon is taking a well-deserved holiday.

Markets never stop, of course, and so Victoria Thiele and George Smith sat down to discuss the biggest stories in European Securitization, as well as some interesting bits and pieces that were not featured in GlobalCapital articles this week.

Bankers and investors expect more European SRT deals by US banks, who were held back by regulatory uncertainty in the past. Appetite for US collateral straight from the market leaders is there – if the price is right.

It looks like an Asian investor took the entire AAA tranche of Investcorp’s Harvest CLO. Some market participants now dream of tighter AAA spreads if Japanese investors return, others dread their demands for bondholder-friendly deal documentation.

Last but not least, securitization specialists stepped in to help George find an appropriate name for his soon-to-be-launched 18 year project of raising Europe’s best financial journalist.