DUBLIN-BASED Guggenheim Partners Europe, a unit of the investment firm Guggenheim Partners, is starting a fund to buy €296 million of buyout loans in the company's first European deal.
The collateralised loan obligation, Iron Hill CLO, will package buyout debt into notes denominated in dollars and euro.
The loans backing the CLO will be managed by Guggenheim's Dublin-based firm. This is the first European CLO by Guggenheim, which is based in New York. The deal closed last week and was underwritten by the London offices of US bank Wachovia.
Adrian Duffy, senior managing director of Guggenheim Partners Europe, said there were "significant discounts" available in the debt markets.
"We are very pleased to get this deal done, given the market turmoil out there."
He said loans that were "high priority" but which did not carry a high credit rating were being refinanced or repaid at rate of 100 cent in the dollar, yet they were being sold in the debt markets at 90 cent in the dollar.
"That presents a very attractive opportunity," said Mr Duffy.
Guggenheim Partners Europe employs 10 staff in Dublin and has $11 billion (€7 billion) under management. New York-based Guggenheim Partners has $100 billion worth of assets under supervision.
The credit crisis has badly affected the market for CLOs and collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), which are instruments that parcel assets such as loans and bonds for purchase by investors. The debt investment market has slowed considerably due to the financial crisis.
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