Research

Pre-Delivery Payment Paper for the Aviation Industry (2025)

This paper by Randy Katzenstein outlines the compelling opportunity in aviation pre-delivery payment (PDP) financing, a capital-efficient strategy, focused on the funding required from airlines before assembling a new aircraft. It examines the business model, risk landscape, return characteristics, and leasing structures that make PDP financing a uniquely attractive asset class for sophisticated investors seeking strong yield with informed risk management.

Securities Lending: Options Conversion/Reversal Strategy(2025)

This presentation outlines OBEX's option-based equity securities lending strategy, which uses "Delta One" trading, simultaneously combining equity positions with offsetting put and call options, to generate yield from the spread between floating securities lending rates and fixed implied options financing rates. The strategy targets net returns on investment capital exceeding 25% by leveraging deep market knowledge of how specific equities trade in the securities lending market, with carefully managed and limited market exposure.

SBA & USDA Loan Analysis and Market Background (2014)

This comprehensive report by Randy Katzenstein and OBEX Group examines the secondary market for U.S. government-guaranteed loans issued through the Small Business Administration and the Department of Agriculture, demonstrating how a strategically balanced portfolio of these instruments can deliver yields substantially above comparable U.S. Treasuries. The analysis covers loan structures, pool requirements, servicing mechanics, and portfolio construction, including sample transactions projecting blended net returns on equity approaching 9% through disciplined use of leverage.

All That Glitters: The most tax-efficient way to own gold (2010)

Randy Katzenstein breaks down the most tax-efficient ways to gain gold exposure, from futures and listed options to lesser-known OTC structures that may qualify for standard long-term capital gains rates.

Zero Coupon Bonds (2009)

This research note from Randy Katzenstein and OBEX Group identifies a compelling relative value opportunity in U.S. Zero Coupon Treasury Bonds and off-the-run high coupon Treasury paper, which had become unusually cheap during the financial crisis. OBEX Group demonstrates how investors could construct a synthetic Treasury bond with identical cash flows to an on-the-run issue but at a substantially higher yield, offering leveraged traders an attractive risk-adjusted return.

Sales Tax Revenue Bond Total Return Swap (2009)

This research note from Randy Katzenstein and OBEX Group presents a structured total return swap strategy designed to synthetically invest in a highly rated dedicated sales tax revenue municipal bond, combining a 5% coupon put bond with low funding costs and leverage to generate an annual IRR of approximately 14.92%. The bond carried an A2/A+ credit rating with 60 years of consistent tax revenue growth behind it, and OBEX Group structured the transaction so that yields would need to reach nearly 14% before the IRR falls to zero, providing investors with substantial downside protection relative to the return on offer.

Inflation Linked Asset Swaps (2008)

This research note from Randy Katzenstein and OBEX Group examines the dislocation between U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) and the broader rates market during late 2008, when TIPS were pricing in sustained deflation and trading at spreads above LIBOR rarely seen in major sovereign bond markets. OBEX Group presents a structured trade combining TIPS with inflation and interest rate swaps to capture an attractively priced yield well above conventional Treasuries, with returns on margin expected to be quite compelling given the leverage employed.

Five Year Basis Trade (2008)

This research note from Randy Katzenstein and OBEX Group identifies an exceptional opportunity in the five year Treasury futures basis, arising from extreme yield curve volatility, year end liquidity constraints, and a thin market of fixed income relative value participants. OBEX Group presents a strategy of selling a weighted basket of deliverable Treasury issues against buying the March futures contract, with the basis trading at nearly double the spread seen in the prior December cycle and profit potential estimated between $400,000 and $1.2 million depending on final settlement.