CMA to use Creditex data

“With Creditex's credit default swaps data incorporated into our analytics software, CMA's clients can quickly and simply identify valuable arbitrage opportunities," said Forbes Elworthy, CMA’s chairman. The London-based credit analytics vendor specialises in providing quantitative credit spread information and analyses. Creditex’s data will be incorporated into CMA’s Market Monitor product.

Hedge funds are now increasingly using credit derivatives for arbitrage, in addition to hedging. “We may use the credit default swaps market for pure credit plays as well as against equity or other cash securities,” Chris Petherick, a Milwaukee-based portfolio manager at Stark Investments, told RiskNews. The market-neutral fund has around $2 billion worth of assets under management.

CMA recently bolstered its sales team as part of an effort to build its business. Last week, it hired Torsten Boehler and Tom Cullum from Credit Suisse First Boston and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, respectively. Boehler was previously a marketer in the Swiss bank’s convertible sales team, while Cullum was formerly head of European high-yield sales at the German bank.

CMA was founded in January 2002 and its client base includes banks, hedge funds and money managers.