Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is offering control — as bankers attempt to revive the market — to investors in the highest-rated portions of a bond sale backed by commercial mortgages, in the event the loans go bad.
The $788.5 million offering gives holders of the safest portion of the transaction, or about 81% of the deal, the power to direct and replace firms hired to handle loans that become troubled, according to marketing documents distributed last week to investors. Typically, that right is held by investors who buy the smaller, riskiest slice.
Goldman is trying to address concern that holders of the riskiest pieces of commercial mortgage bonds in the $700 billion market may make decisions, when loans sour, that favor their interest over that of other investors in the transactions.
"This is a big nod to the AAA buyers," said Lisa Pendergast, a strategist at Jefferies & Co.
