IMN's REO-to-Rental Forum 2013: Welcome to Miami

The Miami Heat’s home playoff games are not going to be the only events drawing attention to sunny Miami next week as IMN hosts its annual REO-to-Rental Forum in Miami. As we have previously discussed numerous times (here, here and here, and OnPoint Updates here and here), the REO-to-Rental asset class has become quite a hot topic and this conference is sure to provide invaluable insight into current trends in the market, as well as where market participants see this class of assets going over the near- and far-term.

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Second Annual IMN CLO and Leveraged Loan Conference Update

The second annual IMN CLO and Leveraged Loan Conference returned to New York this past week. Building on last year’s momentum (discussed here), over 1,500 managers and investors, in addition to structurers, bankers, lawyers and other industry actors, filled the convention space at the Conrad Hotel, doubling last year’s attendance and causing standing room only conditions in the large downtown venue. Yes, many conference attendees were literally prevented by conference staff from entering the fully packed Conrad ballrooms.

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First Annual IMN CLO and Leveraged Loan Conference Update

Seven of our colleagues in Dechert’s active CLO group represented the firm at the first annual IMN CLO and Leveraged Loan Conference in New York a few weeks ago. Strong interest in the collateralized loan obligation technology meant a capacity crowd of more than 750 managers, arrangers and investors, often leaving panel discussions with standing room only.

As participants reviewed CLO performance over the past five years, the theme emerged that CLOs weathered the crisis well compared to other structured finance vehicles. The CLO technology performed as advertised: protecting senior investors and amortizing senior notes during periods when coverage tests triggered.

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Midnight Train to Boston: Dechert Speaks at IMN in NYC

I’m writing from Pennsylvania Station on a particularly bad day for our national rail service (Amtrak) – apparently the heavy rains and gusts wreaked havoc with electrical wires running both North and South, delaying (or cancelling) every Acela, Keystone, Silver Meteor, Silver Star and Vermonter scheduled to leave our country’s busiest transport hub. The (woefully underrated) holiday movie Love Actually opens with Hugh Grant’s musing that when faced with the general gloominess of the world he considers the smiles of arriving Heathrow passengers as they greet their waiting loved ones. On this first day of December and first night of Hanukkah, however, I’m fearful that Mr. Grant would be sorely disappointed in the zeitgeist of the half-million or so travelers looking to depart for Stamford and Boston, Philadelphia and DC and the balance of the Northeast Corridor.

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