"It is very hard to distinguish a catastrophe CDO from any other type of CDO in this market – aren’t all CDOs catastrophes?"
An insurance expert grapples with the terminology
"CDOs are like roaches. No matter that you kill them off they always come back"
A CDO manager has another take on CDOs and makes light of the slowdown in primary flows in his business
"It always reminds me of a criminal line-up: ‘Oh look, the usual suspects are here’"
A fund manager in Hong Kong on the small world of bidders for big-name private equity deals
"That’s shot your planes down, Louis!"
A delegate at the ECBC plenary meeting in Milan after VDP chief Louis Hagan’s announcement of a forthcoming aeroplane Pfandbrief product was rubbished by the chief German regulator
"A colleague of mine over from New York is used to seeing his deals close in a couple of weeks. He gets here to work on a Chinese deal and discovers the credit committee of the acquirer meets precisely once a month and won’t deviate from that schedule. Four months later we’re still waiting on a decision"
Business can happen at a different pace in Asia, as a banker at a US firm working on buyouts in Hong Kong relates