大衛鮑伊如何改變了華爾街
David Bowie was known for his ability to reinvent himself. But he also helped inspire a pocket of Wall Street that tries to create money out of weird things like billboard rental income, cellphone tower lease payments and literary or film libraries.
大衛·鮑伊(David Bowie)以擅於重塑自我著稱。但他對華爾街亦有所啓迪。華爾街爲了賺錢花樣百出，廣告牌租金收入、手機塔租賃費、文學或電影資料庫藏都成爲他們的工具。
In 1997, Mr. Bowie bundled up nearly 300 of his existing recordings and copyrights into a $55 million security that paid the buyer — Prudential Insurance Company of America — a 7.9 percent annual rate over 10 years, backed by the income from his royalties and record sales, and the licensing of his songs for films or other uses.
1997年，鮑伊把他現成的近300項錄音和版權打包爲一個5500萬美元的抵押，賣給美國保誠保險公司(Prudential Insurance Company of America)，在他的版稅和唱片銷售收入，以及電影等場合使用他的歌曲所支付的授權費支持下，買主得到了十年期7.9%的年收益率。
The so-called Bowie bonds were among the first in what would become a wave of esoteric asset-backed securities Deals based on intellectual property, including a more recent one involving Miramax’s film library (including titles like “Pulp Fiction” and “The English Patient”). Bankers have also come up with securities backed by franchise revenue for the restaurant chains Sonic and Church’s Chicken, among others.
這種所謂的“鮑伊債券”(Bowie bonds)是基於知識產權的資產擔保證券交易的先驅之一，外界對這種交易知之甚少，它還包括後來米拉麥克斯公司(Miramax)電影資料庫（其中有《低俗小說》和《英國病人》等電影）的交易。銀行還推出了特許經營收入擔保的證券，比如餐廳連鎖索尼克(Sonic)和德州炸雞(Church's Chicken)等等。
The buyers in these deals, which are negotiated privately by the banks that put the transactions together, tend to be specialized hedge funds or big institutions that can negotiate terms with the bankers. Individual investors never got their hands on a Bowie bond because Prudential never sold any of its stake.
這些交易是由牽頭的銀行私下協商的，買主往往是專門的對衝基金或大型機構，可以與銀行協商交易條款。“鮑伊債券”從未落入過個人投資者手中，因爲保誠沒有出售過它的任何份額。
A Prudential spokesman declined to comment.
保誠發言人拒絕對此置評。
At the time it was a good deal for Mr. Bowie. He got upfront cash for a decade’s worth of royalty and licensing revenue without having to give up ownership of his songs.
在當時，這個交易對鮑伊來說相當有利。他不必放棄自己歌曲的所有權，就可以預支十年版稅和授權費收入。
Originally rated A3 by Moody’s Investors Service, Bowie bonds were later downgraded to Baa3, just above junk status. By the early 2000s, Internet file sharing had become a factor, and musicians were generating less income because album sales were declining.
“鮑伊債券”最初被信譽評級機構穆迪(Moody's)評爲A3級，後來降爲Baa3級，僅高於垃圾級。到21世紀初，互聯網文件共享蔚然成風，隨着專輯銷量下降，音樂人的收入也在減少。
Still, Mr. Bowie’s Wall Street collaboration inspired other celebrities to cash in while the getting was still good. Edward Holland, Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, the Motown hit songwriters, did a deal, as did James Brown and Rod Stewart. In 2002, DreamWorks SKG entered into a $1 billion deal involving its film catalog.
不過，鮑伊與華爾街的合作啓發了其他名人，他們在收入還不錯的情況下也開始套現。摩城唱片(Motown)金曲作者愛德華·霍蘭德(Edward Holland)、布賴恩·霍蘭德(Brian Holland)和拉蒙特·齊爾(Lamont Dozier)達成了一個交易，詹姆斯·布朗(James Brown)和羅德·斯圖爾特(Rod Stewart)也是如此。2002年，夢工廠(DreamWorks SKG)達成了一項10億美元的電影資料庫交易。
Most asset-backed securities are secured by income generated from mortgages, credit card loans and auto loans. But mortgage-backed securities gave the sector a bad name during the financial crisis and investors backed off for a while.
大多數資產擔保證券，都是通過抵押貸款、信用卡貸款和汽車貸款產生的收入獲利的。但在金融危機期間，抵押貸款擔保證券毀了這一行的名聲，投資者也離開了一段時間。
Issuance of asset-backed securities dropped 16.6 percent last year, to $184 billion, with a steep drop off in deals backed by credit card loans, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
證券業和金融市場協會的資料顯示，資產擔保證券去年的發行量下滑16.6%，至1840億美元，信用卡貸款擔保交易量出現暴跌。
Deals backed by unusual assets make up about a tenth of the asset-backed security market, appealing to investors who want higher yields and are willing to take on more risk.
在資產擔保證券市場中，用非常規資產擔保的交易約佔十分之一，它們吸引的是那些追求更高收益率，也願意承擔更多風險的投資者。
“There’s a nonanalytic aspect to these deals that makes them riskier,” says Sylvain Raynes, a founder of R&R Consulting who worked at Moody’s at the time the Bowie bond was being rated.
“這類交易存在一種非分析性，因此它們風險更高，”諮詢公司R&R Consulting創始人西爾萬·雷恩斯(Sylvain Raynes)說。鮑伊債券接受評級的時候，雷恩斯在穆迪工作。
