Tranches
A piece, portion or slice of a deal or structured financing. This portion is one of several related securities that are offered at the same time but have different risks, rewards and/or maturities. "Tranche" is the French word for "slice".
Investopedia Commentary
Tranche is a term often used to describe a specific class of bonds within an offering wherein each tranche offers varying degrees of risk to the investor. For example, a CMO offering a partitioned MBS portfolio might have mortgages (tranches) that have one-year, two- year, five-year and 20-year maturities. It can also refer to segments that are offered domestically and internationally.
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See also: Asset-Backed Security, Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO), Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities - CMBS, Maturity, Mortgage, Mortgage Backed Securities - MBS
Also spelled: Tranche, Tranch