Loreley Financing Jersey No. 4 Ltd. v. UBS Ltd.

40 Misc. 3d 323
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 40 Misc. 3d 323 (Loreley Financing Jersey No. 4 Ltd. v. UBS Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loreley Financing Jersey No. 4 Ltd. v. UBS Ltd., 40 Misc. 3d 323 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Shirley Werner Kornreich, J.

Motion sequence Nos. 002 and 003 are consolidated for disposition.

Defendants UBS Limited, UBS Securities LLC, and UBS AG (collectively, UBS) (sequence No. 002) and Declaration Management & Research LLC (Declaration) (sequence No. 003) move to dismiss the complaint pursuant to CPLR 3211. Defendants’ motions are granted for the reasons that follow.

This case involves allegations of fraud relating to the issuance of approximately $331 million of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) comprised of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) and credit default swaps (CDSs).

A CDO is a security collateralized by a variety of debt obligations. RMBS are securities which pool residential mortgages and use the monthly interest and principal payments to pay the security holders. The mortgage pools are divided into tranches, with the senior tranches carrying the least risk, having the highest rating and earning the lowest returns. A CDS is an agreement in which the “protection buyer” pays the “protection seller” a premium to insure a “credit event,” such as a default. If a credit event occurs, the protection seller must pay the protection buyer a specified sum of money. CDS contracts are similar to insurance contracts because they are a vehicle to hedge or insure a potential loss, where the protection seller takes the long position and the protection buyer takes the short position on the collateral whose default is being insured.

In the case of a CDO based on RMBS, the CDO investor is betting that the RMBS will generate revenue, which occurs when homeowners make payments on the underlying mortgages. As with RMBS, a CDO does not always distribute revenue to its investors equally because the investors often purchase different tranches of the CDO which determine the priority of payment. The highest tranches are paid first, but have a lower rate of return. Revenue is only distributed to investors in the lower tranches if and when investors in the higher tranches have been paid, but the lower tranches offer a higher rate of return due to this risk. The lowest tranche of a CDO is known as the equity, and due to its high level of risk (which typically is [326]*326not assigned a credit rating), is the most difficult to sell. The bank that issues a CDO will commonly serve as the initial purchaser of a CDO’s assets, including the equity, until the bank can sell them to investors. There also are more complex CDOs known as CDOs-squared, whose investments are comprised of tranches of other CDOs.

Since, as explained above, CDSs are vehicles that allow investors to either bet long or short on a security or debt instrument, a CDS cannot exist without both a long investor and a counter-party that takes the short position. That counterparty can be the bank that sells you the CDS (such as UBS here) or another third party who the bank has solicited to take the short position (such as Magnetar, discussed infra).

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

As this decision involves a motion to dismiss, the facts recited are taken from the complaint.

A. The Parties

Plaintiffs Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 4 Limited (L4), Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 6 Limited (L6), Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 28 Limited (L28), Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 29 Limited (L29), Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 30 Limited (L30), and Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 32 Limited (L32) (collectively, Loreley) are companies organized under the laws of Jersey, Channel Islands. (Complaint HH 25-30.) Loreley are special purpose entities formed to invest in CDOs on a long-term, buy-and-hold basis. (1i 47.) Defendants Draco 2007-1, Ltd. (Draco Ltd), TABS 2007-7, Ltd. (TABS Ltd), AMP CDO 2007-2 (AMP Ltd), and Cairn Mezz ABS CDO iy Ltd. (Cairn Ltd) are Cayman Islands limited liability companies. (1ÍH 31, 33, 35-36.) Defendants Draco 2007-1 LLC (Draco LLC), TABS 2007-7 LLC (TABS LLC), Cairn Mezz ABS CDO IV LLC (Cairn LLC), UBS Securities LLC, and Declaration are Delaware companies. (1Í1Í 32, 34, 37, 40, 42.) UBS Limited is a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales. (1i 39.) UBS AG is a Swiss corporation. (If 41.)

B. The CDOs

Loreley relied upon sophisticated investment advisors, non-parties IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG and IKB Credit Asset Management GmbH (collectively, IKB), and through these sophisticated advisors, purchased four CDOs from defendants that were arranged by UBS: (1) Draco 2007-1 (Draco); (2) TABS 2007-7 (TABS); (3) AMP CDO 2007-2 (AMP); and (4) Cairn Mezz ABS CDO IV (Cairn). (U 1.)

[327]*3271. Draco

Draco was a CDO which contained both RMBS and CDSs that was co-issued by Draco Ltd and Draco LLC. (1111 31-32.) Loreley allege that Draco was part of a series of at least 27 CDOs (the Constellation CDOs) that nonparty Magnetar Capital LLC (Magnetar)1 used to collude with numerous financial institutions to carry out an alleged “undisclosed short-trading strategy.” (If 86.) Purportedly, Magnetar agreed to buy the notoriously difficult-to-sell equity of the Constellation CDOs from the issuing banks in exchange for the ability to select the CDOs’ assets, thus putting Magnetar in position to short those assets. (If 87.) Through a series of CDS contracts (to which the Constellation CDOs were occasionally the counterparty), Magnetar took a short position on the Constellation CDOs’ assets that was significantly in excess of its long position (that it had by virtue of being the equity holder), making Magnetar net-short on the Constellation CDOs. (If 88.) In the case of Draco, Magnetar’s short position was three times larger than its long position. (If 89.)

In December 2006, UBS and Declaration solicited IKB, seeking Loreley’s investment in Draco. (IT 94.) In January 2007, UBS provided IKB with a term sheet and marketing book (the Draco offering materials) that represented that Declaration would serve as Draco’s independent collateral manager. (U 96.) The Draco offering materials provided, inter alia, that (1) Declaration would select and manage Draco’s portfolio of assets for the benefit of Draco’s investors; (2) Draco would not enter into CDS contracts that referenced the ABS Home Equity Index (the ABX); and (3) all CDS collateral would be acquired on an arm’s length basis for fair market value. (IfIf 99, 104, 106.) Draco and Declaration were also parties to a collateral management agreement that provided that all proposals to enter into or terminate CDS transactions must only be initiated by Declaration and that CDS transactions cannot be entered into upon the recommendation, request, or solicitation of a counterparty to such transaction. (If 103.)

On February 22, 2007, L6 and L28 made a $60 million investment in Draco. (If 157.) By February 2008, L6’s and L28’s investment in Draco became virtually worthless due to events of default and downgrades by the ratings agencies. (IfIf 160-162.) [328]*328Loreley allege that their losses were caused by Declaration’s failure to abide by the terms of the Draco offering materials and that Declaration did so (and intended to do so when it originally solicited Loreley) to aid in the Constellation CDO scheme with UBS and Magnetar. (1T1T 3-6.)

2. TABS

TABS was a CDO which contained both RMBS and CDSs that was co-issued by TABS Ltd and TABS LLC.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Loreley Financing (Jersey) No. 4 Ltd. v. UBS Ltd.
42 Misc. 3d 858 (New York Supreme Court, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 Misc. 3d 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loreley-financing-jersey-no-4-ltd-v-ubs-ltd-nysupct-2013.