Cayman Islands LLC Must Replead CLO Securities Case Against Deutsche Bank

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York says that Arco Capital Corp. a Cayman Islands LLC, has 20 days to replead its $37M collateralized loan obligation against Deutsche Bank AG (DB) that accuses the latter of alleged misconduct related to a 2006 CLO. According to Judge Robert Sweet, even though Arco Capital did an adequate job of alleging a domestic transaction within the Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, its claims are time-barred, per the two-year post-discovery deadline and five-year statute of repose.

Deutsche Bank had offered investors the chance to obtain debt securities linked to portfolio of merging markets investments and derivative transactions it originated. CRAFT EM CLO, which is a Cayman Islands company created by the bank, effected the transaction and gained synthetic exposure via credit default transactions. For interest payment on the notes, investors consented to risk the principal due on them according to the reference portfolio. However, if a reference obligation, which had to satisfy certain eligibly requirements, defaulted in a way that the CDS agreements government, Deutsche Bank would receive payment that would directly lower the principal due on the notes when maturity was reached.

Arco maintains that the assets that experienced credit events did not meet the criteria. It noted that Deutsche Bank wasn’t supposed to use the transaction as a repository for lending assets that were distressed, toxic, or “poorly underwritten.”

Seeking to dismiss the claims, Deutsche Bank contended that Morrison barred the plaintiff’s 1934 Securities Exchange Act Section 10(b) claim. That ruling found that the section is only applicable to transactions in securities found on US exchanges or transactions that occur domestically. The bank argued that since Arco bought the notes offshore, the LLC is unable to allege federal securities fraud violation in relation to the transactions.

While the court was in agreement with Arco that the lawsuit and associate documents allow for the “plausible inference” that there was irrevocable liability in New York and that, for purposes of Morrison, investment in the Notes was a transaction that occurred domestically, it did say that the company could have found the facts pertaining to the violation within two years of that date that a plaintiff that was “reasonably diligent” would have sufficient data to file a case. Hence, the pleading was untimely.

Collateralized Loan Obligation
A CLO is a type of collateralized debt obligation. It is a securities backed by loans or receivables as we as a special purpose vehicle that has securitization payments as different tranches. CLOs are supposed to reduce lending costs for a business while lowering the lending risks for banks, which sell the loans to outside investors.

At SSEK, our CLO fraud lawyers represent institutional investors throughout the United States. Please contact our CDO law firm to request your free case assessment.

Morrison v. Australia (PDF)

Arco Capital Corporation Ltd. v. Deutshe Bank AG, Justia Docket

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