< The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team
Christian Aufsatz, James Martin
& team Barclays First-Place Appearances: 3
Total Appearances: 4
Team Debut: 2011 Extending its winning streak to three years is the Barclays squad in London. Led by Christian Aufsatz and James Martin, the team of four strategists advise that, in light of their efforts to encourage economic recovery and reduce companies’ dependence on banks for funding, some authorities — especially the European Central Bank — have been softening their tone in relation to the European asset-backed securities market. However, cautions Aufsatz, any positive reassessment has yet to filter into regulatory change. “Spreads of noncore European ABS sectors continue to be wide compared with [those of] other fixed-income assets,” the 39-year-old co-captain says. “Hence we expect spreads of high-beta European ABS sectors to compress further in 2014.” The researchers see potential value in select peripheral bonds, such as senior tranches of ABS issues from noncore countries’ small and medium-size enterprises. They also prefer several mortgage-backed securities segments, including U.K. buy-to-let residential MBS, mezzanine bonds of select U.K. nonconforming RMBS, many first-pay and second-pay European commercial MBS issues, and mezzanine and junior tranches of German multifamily-property CMBS. Martin, 38, joined Barclays in 2010 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he directed coverage of CMBS and Islamic finance, among other sectors. Before moving to the sell side, he worked in whole business securitization at Fitch Ratings, and in corporate finance and business development at U.K. water and electricity companies Anglian Water and National Grid. Martin studied economics and law at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh.
