No. 2002/13 Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) - A Primer Andreas A. Jobst Center for Financial Studies an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität § Taunusanlage 6 § D-60329 Frankfurt am Main Tel: (+49)069/242941-0 § Fax: (+49)069/242941-77 § E-Mail:
[email protected] § Internet: http://www.ifk-cfs.de CFS Working Paper No. 2002/13 Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) - A Primer Andreas A. Jobst* December 2002 Abstract: The following descriptive paper surveys the various types of loan securitisation and provides a working definition of so-called collateralised loan obligations (CLOs). Free of the common rhetoric and slogans, which sometimes substitute for understanding of the complex nature of structured finance, this paper describes the theoretical foundations of this specialised form of loan securitisation. Not only the distinctive properties of CLOs, but also the information economics inherent in the transfer of credit risk will be considered, so that we can equally privilege the critical aspects of security design in the structuring of CLO transactions. JEL Classification: D81, G15, G21, M20 Keywords: Loan securitisation, structured finance, CLO, ABS * London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Financial Markets Group (FMG), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England, U.K., and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Lehrstuhl für Kreditwirtschaft und Finanzierung, Mertonstraße 17-21, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. E-mail:
[email protected]. This paper is the result of a research project on loan securitisation, sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungs- gemeinschaft (DFG) and the Center for Financial Studies (CFS). 1 INTRODUCTION In the lexicon of previous decades financial intermediation occurred when banks and non- bank financial institutions, such as insurance companies, accepted funds from depositors or other investors and channelled these funds at some margin to businesses and households by means of lending.