The long and short of CDOs

The market for collateralized debt obligations based on equity default swaps has failed to ignite. But a new deal that references two portfolios—one long and one short—may shift the market dynamics. Christopher Jeffery reports

A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) based on out-of-the-money barrier options was closed last month that may reshape the market for CDOs based on relative-value opportunities between equity and credit. The reason: its financial engineers have converted equity into triple-A rated credit that will pay investors 66 basis points over Euribor at a time when other dealers have struggled to achieve single-A rated tranches.

The structurers of the deal, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), are not the