The CDO detectives

Investment bankers have always had the upper hand in the collateralised debt obligation business, but investors are now availing themselves of expert witnesses, valuation specialists and even litigators to get some satisfaction from under-performing CDO portfolios. By Rachel Wolcott

Banks are used to dealing with disgruntled collateralised debt obligation (CDO) investors on their own terms, but since legal challenges earlier this year by Germany's HSH Nordbank and Italy's Banca Popolare di Intra (BPI), dealers are becoming slightly less cavalier. A growing number of investors are now turning to specialists to perform in-depth structural analyses and valuations of their CDO portfolios. Some are even hiring litigators to file claims of mis-pricing, mis-selling and