Series: The Wall Street Money Machine: As investors left the housing market in the run-up to the meltdown, Wall Street sliced up and repackaged troubled assets based on those shaky mortgages, often buying those new packages themselves. That created fake demand, hid the banks’ real exposure, increased their bonuses — and ultimately made the mortgage crisis worse.

More in this series

by Jake Bernstein, Jesse Eisinger and Krista Kjellman Schmidt
ProPublica, April 9

From the middle of 2006 to the summer of 2007, Magnetar helped to create and invested in at least 28 subprime mezzanine CDOs, or collaterized debt obligations, deals it often bet against while also pushing for riskier assets to go inside them. The black circles below represent the amount in dollars of their identified deals by month while the blue circles represent the total amount in dollars of the same type of subprime CDOs issued during that time.

Magnetar declines to specify which CDOs it invested in but ProPublica identified 26 of them, 24 of which are subprime mezzanine CDOs.

Return to the story.

 

Sources: PF2 Securities Evaluations Inc., S&P, ProPublica

 

Transaction Name Closing Date Liabilities Issued Investment Bank CDO Manager Documents
May 2006 $833,660,000  
Orion 2006-1 Ltd. May 25, 2006 $833,660,000 Calyon NIBC Credit Management Inc.  
July 2006 $1,000,000,000  
Cetus ABS CDO 2006-1 July 21, 2006 $1,000,000,000 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. GSC Partners  
September 2006 $4,504,000,000  
ACA Aquarius 2006-1 Ltd. Sept. 12, 2006 $2,000,000,000 UBS Warburg LLC ACA Management LLC Prospectus
Octans CDO I Ltd. Sept. 26, 2006 $1,504,000,000 Merrill Lynch Harding Advisory LLC Prospectus
Cetus ABS CDO 2006-2 Ltd. Sept. 27, 2006 $1,000,000,000 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. GSC Partners Prospectus
October 2006 $7,756,740,000  
Pyxis ABS CDO 2006-1 LLC Oct. 3, 2006 $1,017,340,000 Calyon The Putnam Advisory Company  
Octans II CDO Ltd. Oct. 12, 2006 $1,575,000,000 Wachovia Securities Inc. Harding Advisory LLC  
Libra CDO Ltd. Oct. 17, 2006 $1,565,400,000 Lehman Brothers Inc. Lehman Brothers Asset Management LLC Prospectus
Scorpius CDO Ltd. Oct. 26, 2006 $1,504,000,000 Merrill Lynch Strategos Capital Management LLC Prospectus
Vertical Virgo 2006-1 Ltd. Oct. 31, 2006 $2,095,000,000 UBS Warburg LLC Vertical Capital LLC  
November 2006 $7,914,480,000  
Carina CDO Ltd. Nov. 1, 2006 $1,565,680,000 Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. State Street Global Advisors Prospectus
Cetus ABS CDO 2006-4 Ltd. Nov. 15, 2006 $1,500,000,000 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. GSC Partners Prospectus
MKP Vela CBO Ltd. Nov. 16, 2006 $1,554,300,000 Lehman Brothers Inc. MKP Capital Management LLC Prospectus
Cetus ABS CDO 2006-3 Ltd. Nov. 28, 2006 $1,294,500,000 Calyon GSC Partners Prospectus
Lacerta ABS CDO 2006-1 Ltd. Nov. 29, 2006 $2,000,000,000 Citigroup Global Markets Inc.   Prospectus
December 2006 $4,069,450,000  
Octans III CDO Ltd. Dec. 6, 2006 $1,000,000,000 Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Harding Advisory LLC  
Orion 2006-2 Ltd. Dec. 7, 2006 $1,559,000,000 Calyon NIBC Credit Management Inc.  
Auriga CDO Ltd. Dec. 20, 2006 $1,510,450,000 Merrill Lynch 250 Capital LLC  
February 2007 $2,000,000,000  
Draco 2007-1 Ltd. Feb. 22, 2007 $2,000,000,000 UBS Warburg LLC Declaration Management & Research LLC Prospectus
March 2007 $5,209,000,000  
Norma CDO I Ltd. March 1, 2007 $1,500,000,000 Merrill Lynch NIR Capital Management LLC Prospectus
Pyxis ABS CDO 2007-1 Ltd. March 6, 2007 $1,579,000,000 Lehman Brothers Inc. The Putnam Advisory Company Prospectus
Volans Funding 2007-1 Ltd. March 14, 2007 $1,100,000,000 Calyon Vero Capital Management  
Sagittarius CDO I Ltd. March 15, 2007 $1,030,000,000 Wachovia Securities Inc. Structured Asset Investors LLC Prospectus
Tigris CDO 2007-1 Ltd.* March 15, 2007 $698,400,000 Mizuho International PLC Harding Advisory LLC  
May 2007    
Squared CDO 2007-1 Ltd.* May 11, 2007 $1,087,996,000 J.P. Morgan Securities Ltd. GSC Partners Prospectus
July 2007 $1,627,000,000  
Delphinus CDO 2007-1 Ltd. July 19, 2007 $1,627,000,000 Mizuho Securities USA Delaware Asset Advisors  

 

*Denotes a deal that is not incorporated into the graphic or monthly total since it is a different type of CDO.

Sources: PF2 Securities Evaluations, Inc., S&P, ProPublica

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  • Krista Kjellman Schmidt

    Krista Kjellman Schmidt was ProPublica's deputy editor of news applications.

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