Oxford CDO Classes Downgraded

Seven classes of notes issued by Oxford Street Finance Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation that consists partly of subprime mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded and placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: class B, from AA-plus to A; class C, from AA to BBB; class D, from AA-minus to BB; class E, from A to CCC; class F, from A-minus to CC; class G, from BBB to CC; and class H, from BB-plus to CC. Classes A1 and A2 were also placed on Rating Watch Negative. The negative rating actions were attributed primarily to "the negative credit rating migration within the [asset-backed securities] portion of the underlying collateral." The ABS exposure consists of subprime residential MBS from 2005 to 2007. The synthetic CDO references a 2.0 billion euro diversified portfolio of primarily investment-grade corporate bonds in addition to the ABS, Fitch said.