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NEW YORK CITY-A joint venture of CharterMac and IXIS Capital has formed Centerbrook Financial. The firm provides credit intermediation products, including credit default swaps, to the affordable housing finance industry.

Centerbrook entered into senior and mezzanine debt facilities and has commitments for $155 million from four financial institutions. Concurrently with the launch, Centerbrook completed its first transaction, providing a pool of credit default swaps in connection with the resecuritization of $820 million of CharterMac's existing multifamily revenue bonds.

"This transaction represents only the initial phase of our credit intermediation business," says Marc D. Schnitzer, chief executive officer and president of CharterMac. "Our ownership of Centerbrook will enable us to retain a significant portion of the fees that we would have paid to third party credit providers." CharterMac paid third party credit providers over $13.5 million of fees in 2005.