Caliber Global Investment Share Discussion Threads

[simontemplar] 02/1/2008 16:59

I think you'll find that that trade was for is $44k or approx. £22k stirling.
the stocks's trading at 20 cents a share. dyor

[andrbea] 02/1/2008 16:54

a 220k buy at 16.38h (not much, 440 quid)

it's going up (30%) on miniscule volume
so what happens if the volume increases?


nia dyor

[simontemplar] 02/1/2008 15:33

Ps. It's quoted in dollars so the market Cap is about £2.5m!

[simontemplar] 02/1/2008 15:30

Took a little punt on these.

[andrbea] 02/1/2008 12:53

DEc 20

However, the year also saw some very big fallers, with Erinaceous, Agcert Regs and Caliber Global falling 99.1 per cent, 99.06 per cent and 97.94 per cent respectively.

[robizm] 26/11/2007 19:49

I think they have lost everything on this. I took a £1000 hit while back. The only plus could be if the income is still coming in. There is no market for the bonds so no proper valuation is possible. But with higher interest rates on its loans and the results being moved back, this one looks dead and buried to me, but hope I am wrong.

[garfield31] 18/11/2007 10:56

Is it expected that the amounts realised will be higher than the market is reflecting or is it really a complete disaster. No guidance seems to be coming from people running this.

[robizm] 31/7/2007 19:45

How much worst can this get? Net asset value of $5.40-$5.70 per share. A share price of $3. The nav fell by $30000000 or $0.9-1.20 per share. the 2006 issue looks bad. THE 2005 issue looks liked it has priced in the very worst. the us portion is worth 550,000000 at end of q1, so would have to fall by 140000000 to wipe out investors.also they seem to still be receiving income from these bonds. My gut tells me to hold and stick it out, but must lower risk so will sell.

[lbo] 01/7/2007 13:00

Well Glad I was short! The subprime market in the US was a time bomb

In the Press

Cambridge Place, the London fund manager, was forced to close Caliber Global Investments its $908m (£450m) listed fund yesterday as contagion from the embattled US sub-prime mortgage market continued to spread to the UK.

Cambridge Place, which was established in 2002 by the former Goldman Sachs bankers Martin Finegold and Robert Kramer, said that it would sell the assets of Caliber, a London-listed fund, after suffering a net loss of $8.8m in the first quarter of this year. Caliber has about 60% of its investments in the US, mostly in mortgage debts rated BBB or below, the Times writes

[robizm] 30/6/2007 12:48

With these winding up in the next 12 months, there could be more upside. The NAV was $6.60 at the end of May, which is £3.30 per share. If the dollar strenthens in the next 12 months could get a currenvcy boost as well. Not sure what impact the imparements have on NAV though. Must do some research this weekend before I add to my 1000 shares.

[specuvestor] 10/5/2007 08:30

According to their First Quarter results for 2007 only 10% of their US Residential Mortgage Backed Security (RMBS) portfolio is 2006 vintage. (5% of total portfolio) so I am hoping that without further deterioation of the sub-prime and indeed prime market that the hit will be limited. The company have also been busy increasing their exposure to Europe from the USA and also into commercial loans.
However I agree that its probably best holding off from buying at least until their position is made clearer on May 18th.

[robizm] 09/5/2007 19:24

I would hold off from buying as this could go a bit lower yet. Does it have minimum assetts for bank loans? Wish we knew how bad USA was going to get as this Company holds an awful lot of the 2006 Vintage bonds.

[lbo] 28/4/2007 12:05

Freddie Mac ceo sees subprime crisis

THE sharp decline of the subprime housing market offering high-cost mortgages hasn't yet hit bottom, said Richard F Syron, the head of home mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, yesterday.

The number of home buyers starting such loans peaked last year, and interest rates for those buyers are due to rise in the next few years, which could cause foreclosures to spike further, he said.

"I don't think it's troughed yet, because of the class of 2006. "The mortgages written in 2006 in the subprime market are probably the most troublesome. They haven't hit the reset point yet on interest rates."

Subprime mortgages that became increasingly popular in recent years are considered higher-risk loans because they typically draw borrowers in with an initial low 'teaser' interest rate, which can spiral upward after the first few years.

Until the housing market entered its current slump, many such borrowers could avoid falling behind on payments by refinancing to loans with increasingly lenient terms. Such refinancing spared banks from getting stuck with sour loans, as long as prices rose.

"To some extent, people in the past thought, 'Well, I'll be bailed out by the rise in housing prices, no matter what happens'," Syron said.

But when prices began dropping in many markets in late 2005, borrowers' options became fewer as banks tightened lending requirements, pushing more people into default and many into eventual foreclosure. The problems could worsen as nearly 2m so-called adjustable-rate mortgages are resetting to higher rates this year and next.

"People are already worried about what the reset rate is going to be, and they weren't in the past," Syron said.

Virginia-based Freddie Mac, the second-largest US buyer and guarantor of home loans, said last week it would buy as much as $20bn (€14.6bn) in mortgages to help borrowers with high-priced loans stay in their homes.

The government-sponsored company, is developing new types of loans to help homeowners avoid default. (AP)

[lbo] 03/4/2007 11:03

Not sure how badly they are being effected but the US property market is very weak and the sub-prime industry is in a mess.


Sub-prime lender New Century goes bankrupt

SUB-PRIME mortgage lender New Century Financial filed yesterday for bankruptcy protection, and said it would fire 3,200 workers, or 54pc of its work force, to better position the company for a possible sale.

Once the second-largest provider of sub-prime mortgages in the US based on loan volume, New Century was the latest lender to fall on hard times amid a spike in mortgage defaults caused by borrowers unable to make payments.

More than two dozen subprime lenders have shut down in recent months and others are scrambling to stay in business. New Century said it has agreed to sell its loan servicing business to Carrington Capital Management LLC and its affiliate for about $139m, subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court.

"The decision to pursue the sale of the company's assets and operations through the bankruptcy process was a difficult but appropriate decision for our board to make," president and chief executive Brad A Morrice said. CIT Group and Greenwich Capital Financial Products Inc have agreed to provide up to $150m in working capital to facilitate the reorganisation process, the company said. New Century has also agreed to sell certain loans and residual interest in some trusts to Greenwich Capital for $50m.

New Century, based in Irvine, filed the bankruptcy action in US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The move had been expected for several weeks.

New Century said several lenders planned to sell their outstanding mortgage loans and use the proceeds to offset payment obligations by the company, while retaining the right to recover the difference. (AP)

[dadair] 27/3/2007 13:59

LBO- Whats your take on this, is the american property problems going to write off CLBR as a profitable company?

[lbo] 12/3/2007 08:00

New Century Financial (NEW)

Party's Over at New Century Financial

New Century Financial, the second largest lender in the subprime mortgage market, announced that it will not be accepting any new loan applications. The company hopes the move is temporary but cautioned that it may not be. It can't accept any new applications and originate additional loans because New Century's creditors are closing the funding faucet rapidly and are essentially forcing the company to put a halt to its operations. Its stock is in the midst of a bloodbath at the stock exchanges as it has fallen 80% since the beginning of the month. Until a couple of weeks ago, the $1.3 trillion subprime market was considered to be the 'party of century' but things have soured extremely quickly. So where does the overall subprime market go from here and can New Century actually rebound?


Stock Analysis
Subprime loans are loans that are given to borrowers with a weak credit history and a poor FICO score. They carry with them a much higher interest rate (often greater than 10%) than the regular prime loans (whose interest rate levels are usually in the 6-8% range). The high interest levels mean handsome rewards for the parties funding these loans. These rates of return along with the recent real estate boom had attracted a number of different players to the subprime party. One of the major figures was New Century Financial which made these loans to the so-called risky borrowers and then turned around and sold those loans to major Wall Street banks which in turn securitized these loans (i.e. sold securities to investors which were backed by portfolios consisting of the aforementioned loans). Investors (a number of them institutional) were attracted to these investments because they offered much higher rates of return than the typical government and corporate bonds. Wall Street firms also provided substantial levels of financing to New Century and other such lenders in order to enable them to make more loans (which could in turn be packaged into more securities). So basically everybody won, from the risky borrower with the spotty credit track record who just realized the quintessential American Dream by becoming a home owner to the large Wall Street establishments.

That is until the other side of the high reward equation kicked in – i.e. high risk. The level of defaults on these loans started increasing as some newly minted homeowners realized that they may have overreached with their purchases and the cooling real estate market precluded them from turning around and selling their houses without taking a substantial hit. For New Century, this meant setting aside more money to deal with delinquencies as a higher percentage of people it had lent money to were not paying. But, as mentioned earlier, New Century turns around and sells a lot of its loan portfolio to Wall Street firms. Therefore, the impact of delinquencies should be limited as New Century is no longer the creditor. The problem with that is, a number of contracts that New Century entered in to sell its loans specify that it has to buy them back if the borrower defaults within a certain initial time period (typically ranging from 90 days to 6 months). Consequently, in a lot of these delinquencies, New Century is left holding the bag as the Wall Street firms are forcing the former to buy back these loans. In addition to dealing with these loans which have often lost 15-20% of their value, New Century is faced with the prospect of its major creditors (believed to be Morgan Stanley (MS: Charts, News, Offers), Goldman Sachs (GS: Charts, News, Offers) and Credit Suisse) withdrawing the credit lines previously extended to the firm. Therefore, New Century has no money to generate additional business. Plus, the Calif. based company is also the subject of a federal probe into its accounting and trading practices.

So can New Century recover and return to its 52 week high of $51.97? Most analysts doubt it as the company is facing the double whammy of deteriorating assets and a liquidity crunch. Most people agree the two options for the company now are either a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing or a sale (if there are any buyers left). However, if the company can somehow manage to survive, however unlikely that sounds right now, it will find itself in a business with much reduced competition. Most companies in the subprime market are heading for the exit sign right now but the ones that can weather the storm will be left to enjoy a market which will no doubt be lucrative once again down the road, once the current cycles play out, all by themselves.

Profile
New Century Financial Corporation operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It originates and purchases mortgage loans through two divisions, Wholesale and Retail. The Wholesale division provides loans through a network of independent mortgage brokers and correspondent lenders. It also originates mortgage loans through its FastQual Website at www.newcentury.com, where a broker uploads a loan request. The Retail division operates and originates loans through a consumer-direct channel and a builder/realtor channel, including radio, direct mail, telemarketing, television advertising, and the Internet. As of December 31, 2005, the company had 35 regional operating centers located in 18 states and originated and purchased loans through its network of 47,000 mortgage brokers, as well as operated a central retail telemarketing unit, 2 regional processing centers, and 222 sales offices. New Century Financial Corporation qualifies as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income tax to the extent it distributes 90% of taxable income to its shareholders. The company was co-founded by Robert K. Cole, Brad A. Morrice, and Edward F. Gotschall in 1995 and is based in Irvine, California.

[dadair] 08/3/2007 16:55

Does any1 have a list of the major shares/assets CLBR hold?

[lbo] 28/2/2007 13:12

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac (FRE: Charts, News, Offers) said Tuesday it will no longer buy high-risk home mortgages that it deems to be highly vulnerable to foreclosure. The surprise move came amid a deteriorating market for subprime loans affected by slumping home prices and rising interest rates The government-sponsored company, which is the second-biggest financer of home loans in the United States, said it will begin using stricter standards for mortgages that it buys - including limiting the use of loans requiring less documentation of the borrower's status than conventional mortgages. (Source: Forbes.com)

[lbo] 19/2/2007 12:42

HOUSING CHALLENGED

News from the embattled U.S. housing market appeared to be turning more
mixed of late. Not so Friday's housing-starts data. Residential builders
started work on the fewest homes in nearly a decade last month, the
Commerce Department revealed Friday. January's rate was the lowest for
housing starts since August 1997. Starts were down 37.8% when compared
with January 2006, the largest year-over-year decline since early 1991.
What's more, issuance of building permits dropped 2.8% -- putting the
figure 28.6% below that of the same month a year ago