The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York issued a memorandum decision in the Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI) liquidation proceeding confirming the LBI trustee’s determination that certain claims relating to TBA contracts do not qualify as customer claims against LBI’s estate.
In re Zais Investment Grade Ltd. VII1 is the latest in a recent line of bankruptcy cases challenging bedrock assumptions regarding securitization special purpose entities (SPEs) and bankruptcy considerations in securitization transactions.2 Zais establishes precedent allowing a senior noteholder of a collateralized debt obligation (CDO) to place the CDO issuer in an involuntary chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to advance an asset management plan that would otherwise require supermajority approval of all noteholders (including all junior classes) under the related indenture.
On April 1, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) closed the sale of an equity interest in a limited liability company (LLC) created to hold certain assets transferred from 19 failed bank receiverships. The purchaser of the interest in the Multibank Structured Transaction Single Family Residential 2010-1 is Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation (Roundpoint). The sale was the result of a competitive auction held on February 24.
The Ontario Court of Appeal has approved a creative use of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) designed to unfreeze the $32-billion Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP).
As has been widely publicized, the Canadian ABCP market froze in August 2007 as a result of concerns in world credit markets arising from the US subprime mortgage crisis. After the market froze, a Pan-Canadian Investors Committee was formed to attempt to restructure it.
In Short
The Situation: The Italian Parliament recently approved the Conversion Law of Decree no. 50, dealing with, among others, securitization regulations.
The Result: The Conversion Law expands the scope of the "Law 130 Vehicle" for the sale of certain securitized assets due to an insolvency or restructuring.
Looking Ahead: The new provisions should attract new investment and make it easier for banks and other financial intermediaries to dispose of nonperforming leases and other claims.
Recent Developments