Alesco Slammed on IndyMac Deferral

Alesco Financial's (AFN) CDO woes never seem to end. Today's blowup comes courtesy of ailing Alt-A lender IndyMac Bancorp (IMB), which announced (in addition to a worse-than-expected quarterly loss) that it would defer the interest payment on its trust preferred securities. AFN holds a portion of the equity interests in eight CDOs that include trust preferred securities issued by IMB.

The disclosure sent Alesco shares reeling and prompted the Company to issue a statement quantifying the impact of the IMB non-payment. AFN admitted that that IMB's deferral will trigger the over-collateralization tests in five of the eight CDOs for a period of time. Failing the O/C tests will cut Alesco off from the cash flow from these CDOs, although AFN will still record the interest income (as it is doing with the Kleros CDOs).

AFN claims it could maintain its current dividend stream despite the O/C test failures, but cautions that "[the Company] is reviewing a number of strategies for the company, including whether to continue to maintain its REIT qualification. Any change in strategy could impact the level of future dividend payments."

Perhaps Alesco can withstand one deferral, but if another IndyMac situation arises (and one has to believe it will), Alesco's CDO machine will overheat and crash.