Interest in hybrid securitisations with leveraged loan CDSs grows

Hybrid collateralised loan obligations (CLO) deals with a leverage loan credit default swap (CDS) component are increasing in number, according to Vishwanath Tirupattur, a New York-based vice-president at Morgan Stanley, who spoke at Fitch Ratings’ annual credit derivatives conference, held in New York last week.

"Typically, a CLO has a 5-10% synthetic bucket, but it’s increasing to 20-30%," he said. "Those deals, which are still few in number, don’t make a trend yet. But early indications suggest hybrids will happen before 100% synthetics."

Despite some industry scepticism about the development of a robust leveraged loan credit default swaps (CDS) market, Tirupattur believes there is ample reason for buyers of protection to enter the market and provide liquidity once standardised documentation is