Fitch Eyes Duke CDO Classes

Six classes of notes issued by Duke Funding XIII Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation based largely on subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, have been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings.The affected securities are classes A1J, A2S, A2J, A3, B1, and B2. The negative rating actions resulted from collateral deterioration, as 8.7% of the portfolio has been downgraded or placed under review for possible downgrade by at least one rating agency, Fitch reported. The hybrid structured finance CDO consisted, at closing, of 91.4% credit default swaps referencing chiefly subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, the rating agency said. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.