portage

10:30 Jun 15, 2009 

Thanks for your comments. I stuck with "portage" in the end – although not partcularly a common term in EN, there is precedent for its use and I felt it was safe enough as it's only used in the content of portfolio names. I've learnt something here!

03:00 Jun 15, 2009 

I'd hesitate to call it a 'repo' because usage restricts that term to certain classes of debt securities. Portage can be perfectly legal and does not imply nondisclosure ("parking"). It's essentially a credit transaction: the lender acquires the securities against the borrower's promise to repurchase them.

17:23 Jun 12, 2009 

My 'Dictionnaire pratique des Mondes de la Finance at de la Bourse' gives: conveyance, porterage and carry for 'portage'. Since they don't elaborate, that isn't very useful.

It sure sounds like a repo to me too, but I'm not sure.

Do you have access to Ménard's French English derivatives dictionary? I loaned mine to a friend. It might be in there.


From the Vernimmen definition in French, I think we would call this a 'straw sale' of the securities in the vernacular: usually sales made to conceal the identity of an investor who wants to accumulate shares anonymously.