Emerging opportunities

Emerging market CDOs have been remarkably resilient in the face of recent credit troubles in Latin America. But the market is still just a niche. Naomi Humphries asks whether investors are missing out on good opportunities

According to a handful of bankers, emerging market collateralised debt obligations (EM CDOs) are among the most misunderstood securities in the field. Since the Asian and Russian financial crises in the late 1990s, investors are generally terrified of EM debt, and events this year in Argentina and Brazil have fuelled jitters. But EM CDOs have been remarkably resilient in the face of adversity, with defaults on EM debt far less severe than many market participants expected. Moreover, they