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Investor Relations > News Room > News Release Index >
News Release - 29 Mar 2001
Jointly Issued By United Overseas Bank Limited And Ashmore Investment Management Limited UOB Asset Management and Ashmore Investment Management Close The First Emerging Markets CDO Of 2001 Singapore & London, 29 March 2001 _ UOB Asset Management Ltd (UOBAM), Ashmore Investment Management Limited (Ashmore) and Lehman Brothers are pleased to announce the closing of the US$170 million emerging markets Collateralised Debt Obligation _ Atlas CDO I, Limited (Atlas CDO I), a Cayman Island limited liability company. Atlas CDO I represents the first emerging markets CDO transaction for 2001. Lehman Brothers acted as the sole structuring and placement agent for the Senior Notes and Preference Shares of Atlas CDO I. Ashmore will manage the collateral in the portfolio and UOBAM will act as investment advisor to Ashmore. Ashmore and UOBAM are both experienced emerging markets CDO managers, each currently managing two emerging markets CDO transactions in addition to Atlas CDO I. Ashmore recently won the Global Investor's 2001 Award for Investment Excellence in Emerging Market Bonds. Ashmore's Emerging Markets Liquid Investment Portfolio, a globally diversified emerging markets debt fund constituting Ashmore's largest fund, has been ranked by Lipper as the '#1 Emerging Markets Fund' for over five years and by S&P Micropal Limited as the '#1 Emerging Markets Fixed Income Fund' for over eight years, and is rated AA by Standard & Poor's Fund Services. Ashmore currently manages approximately US$400 million of assets in CDO transactions in emerging markets. UOBAM is one of the largest unit trust managers in Singapore, with over US$2.2 billion of assets (unit trust and non-unit trust assets) under management as of 31 December 2000, including approximately US$270 million of assets in two CDO transactions. Atlas CDO I issued three classes of notes: US$130.5 million floating-rate Class A Notes, US$3.8 million fixed-rate Class B Notes, and US$13.6 million fixed-rate Class C Notes. The Class A Notes are rated Aaa/AAA by Moody's and S&P, respectively. The Class B Notes are rated Baa2 by Moody's and the Class C Notes are rated Ba2 by Moody's. Atlas CDO I also issued US$22.1 million of preference shares. The underlying assets in the portfolio consists primarily of sovereign emerging markets securities, with selected corporate emerging markets securities, high yield bonds, and structured finance securities. The Class A Notes have 23% subordination and are guaranteed by a financial insurance policy issued by Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA). FSA, rated Aaa by Moody's and AAA by S&P, guarantees the timely payment of interest and ultimate repayment of principal of the Class A Notes. Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), an innovator in global finance, focuses on serving the financial needs of corporations, governments, institutional clients and high networth individuals worldwide. Lehman Brothers is headquartered in New York, London and Tokyo, and operates in 44 offices around the world. Lehman Brothers was the #2 US domestic CDO underwriter in 2000 and placed a total of approximately US$14.9 billion in CDOs in 2000. Lehman Brothers has one of the largest ABS trading desks which is consistently acknowledged by investors for its liquidity support, and one of the most active CDO secondary trading efforts. Lehman Brothers has the #1 ranked Fixed Income Research Team and the #2 CDO Research Team (Institutional Investors, 2000). |
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