William Van de Water, Portfolio Manager

There has been a significant ongoing litigation that involves several trusts that were organized by JP Morgan. This litigation is at its end-stage, and, at this point, there are minor court rulings coming out. The court rulings involve the timing as well as the amount of the settlement that needs to be paid out to each trust by JP Morgan. ESM is constantly looking at these bonds when they are offered into the market.

Most MBS securitizations contain a call right that is vested with the servicer of the bonds. Imagine a pool of 4,000 30-year mortgages. By the time year 29 comes around, there may be less than 50 mortgages remaining. So the servicer is not stuck collecting from 50 mortgagees and applying those payments to various bonds, the call right allows the servicer to call the outstanding bonds and possibly re-securitize the remaining mortgages with other mortgages from other trusts that may have also been called. Typically, these call rights trigger when there is less than 5% to 10% of the original principal value of the trust remaining.

Most MBS securitizations contain a call right that is vested with the servicer of the bonds. Imagine a pool of 4,000 30-year mortgages. By the time year 29 comes around, there may be less than 50 mortgages remaining. So the servicer is not stuck collecting from 50 mortgagees and applying those payments to various bonds, the call right allows the servicer to call the outstanding bonds and possibly re-securitize the remaining mortgages with other mortgages from other trusts that may have also been called. Typically, these call rights trigger when there is less than 5% to 10% of the original principal value of the trust remaining.

The managers identified a bond where the servicer was not correctly interpreting the payout. In this case, the servicer was paying the principal on the bonds to an insurance company before the senior bondholders. It was paying the insurance company for losses the insurance company had previously paid out on mezzanine bonds. Insurance recovery rights are called rights of subrogation. ESM bought the senior bonds and challenged the servicer.

The managers identified a bond where the servicer was not correctly interpreting the payout. In this case, the servicer was paying the principal on the bonds to an insurance company before the senior bondholders. It was paying the insurance company for losses the insurance company had previously paid out on mezzanine bonds. Insurance recovery rights are called rights of subrogation. ESM bought the senior bonds and challenged the servicer.

In the U.S., hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgages are issued every year. Mortgages that meet certain government requirements (loan size, LTV ratio, etc.) can be sold to or guaranteed by government backed agencies, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

In the U.S., hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgages are issued every year. Mortgages that meet certain government requirements (loan size, LTV ratio, etc.) can be sold to or guaranteed by government backed agencies, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.