Recently in CMBS Category

When this popped into my inbox today, I couldn't quite belive my eyes:

London - Moody's upgrades Class M and Class B CMBS Notes of Business Mortgage Finance No. 1 plc

That's right, CMBS notes being upgraded. Haven't seen that in a while. Only a small issue, and not secured against regular commercial property (actually against loads of owner occupied small business type stuff), but a reason to be cheerful nonetheless.

News emerged last night of what should prove to be a good hire for DTZ, in my humble opinion.

Chief executive Paul Idzik has once again raided the talent pool of his alma mata Barclays, and poached BarCap CMBS analyst Hans Vrensen to be the agency's new head of research.

Vrensen is an incredibly smart guy, and, importnatly for DTZ in this market, when it comes to the subject of property debt, he is wired into the Matrix. His appointment cannot but help the firm in terms of the expertise it can offer to clients in the complicated debt renegotiations they are no doubt currently undertaking.

Yesterday was hectic in the world of commercial mortgage-backed securities. Capital & Regional, Simon Halabi, and most importantly Lehman Brothers were all in the mix.

First up, The Mall fund, managed by Capital & Regional and Aviva Investors, sought permission to buy back up to £150m of its £1.2bn bond issue to strengthen its balance sheet. The Hercules Unit Trust and Invista Foundation Property Trust both failed with similar offers, so will The Mall be able to pull it off? The bonds are trading at a higher price than six months ago, so they might have missed the boat in terms of buying them back at a nice discount.

Next up, Halabi. Companies which own six of the nine offices that form the security for a £1.45bn loan have been served with winding-up petitions by HMRC over unpaid tax. There is cash being generated by the properties available to pay the £4.8m owed to the taxman, but this cuts into the funds available for special servicer CB Richard Ellis to undertake the vital asset management needed to increase the value of the properties ahead of sale.

The collapse and unwinding of Dunedin's Industrious fund has been fascinating to watch, mainly because it is the first time that a UK CMBS structure has been broken up and the underlying assets sold off.

As you may know, Nick Leslau's new company Max Property emerged as the likely buyer in early July, and had announced a £232m purchase to the Stock Exchange before stating that a hold up had occured. It turned out that the special situations fund managed by Citi, a junior lender on the original Industrious refinanncing in 2006, had exercised its pre-emption right, and wanted to weigh up whether to buy the portfolio itself.