Toronto-based asset management firm Edenbrook Hill Capital, together with broker-dealer Dundee Securities Corporation, has launched a commercial paper conduit into the Canadian market that will buy highly-rated synthetic investments. The SIV-like structure joins less than a handful of such conduits in the country focusing on credit derivative structures.
Skeena Capital Trust opened for business last week and will purchase AAA-rated collateralized debt obligations including managed CDOs, junior super senior, super senior and leveraged super senior, said Mark Adams, president in Toronto. "We have pushed heavily toward synthetics because there is more flexibility in design and execution of investments," said Adams.
Skeena, which takes it name from the Canadian river, is the first in a planned series of vehicles to be launched by Edenbrook and Dundee, with a target size of CAD2.5 billion (USD2.26 billion). Edenbrook was set up in November 2005 by Mark Adams and his wife Rebecca Adams, coo. Both are former senior managers at Toronto-based rating agency Dominion Bond Rating Service.
Edenbrook Hill Capital is initially pitching Skeena to Canadian institutional investors, but Rebecca Adams noted the company will look to target investors in other regions in the future, as other conduits are launched. The company, which currently comprises a team of four, plans to make further hires and also build its own risk analysis and risk pricing models.
