Credit Suisse closed the first issue of long/short collateralized commodity obligations notes in April. Rated AAA by Fitch Ratings and denominated in US dollars, euros and Australian dollars in three-year and five-year tranches, the $190 million issue of notes offers protected coupon payments and principal repayments based on the performance of long and short positions on a portfolio of commodities.
The notes were priced to provide an attractive yield enhancement over equivalent AAA-rated paper and were priced at 180 basis points and 195bp for the three-year and five-year issues respectively.