Analytics acquisition

IHS Markit has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ipreo for US$1.855bn from private equity funds managed by Blackstone and the Goldman Sachs merchant banking division. The acquisition is expected to close in 2H18, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Following a detailed review of its financial services businesses, the firm has also initiated a process to sell MarkitSERV, its derivatives processing unit.

CDO manager transfer

Dock Street Capital Management has replaced Structured Finance Advisors as collateral manager of Structured Finance Advisors ABS CDO III. Dock Street proposes to replace the employees of SFA who are actively involved in the management of the deal with two of its employees – David Crowle and Jeffrey Holtman. For other recent CDO manager replacements, see SCI’s CDO manager transfer database.

ESN hearing due

The EBA is set to hold a public hearing to outline its draft answer to the European Commission's call for advice (CfA) on European Secured Notes on 26 June. The hearing comes ahead of the publication of the EBA's final report, which is expected by mid-July 2018. The CfA asked the EBA to assess whether a dual-recourse instrument similar to covered bonds may provide a useful funding alternative to banks engaged in lending to SMEs and infrastructure projects, to advise on the potential structure of this new product and to determine an appropriate EU framework and regulatory treatment.

Europe

Citi has promoted Peter Keller to md, head of structured products sales, EMEA. He was previously md and co-head of global structured finance and securitisation at the bank.

Ocorian has launched a new corporate trust offering with the appointment of three professionals from the banking sector – Sally Gilding, Chris Wilson and Sinead McIntosh. Gilding has deep experience of SPV structures and joins as senior consultant and non-executive director, having previously been co-chief executive of Deutsche Trustee Company in the UK and a non-executive director at Intertrust. Wilson (formerly at Citi) has been named director, transaction management and McIntosh (formerly at HSBC) as associate director, product development. Their arrival follows the appointment of Alan Booth as md of Ocorian's UK business in February, having previously served as global head of product management within Deutsche Bank's corporate services division.

Porterbrook has appointed Stefan Rose as head of structured finance, responsible for the firm’s relations with the financial community and managing the financing of the business. He will join the firm in July from the infrastructure debt team within UBS Asset Management, bringing over 18 years of experience in pan-European infrastructure projects, including financing a number of landmark projects in the rail and rolling stock sector. He has also worked at Edmond de Rothschild and Mizuho in their infrastructure teams.

Fairhold trustee scrutinised

Clifden IOM No. 1 has been appointed as agent in respect of any correspondence and discussions with the note trustee for Fairhold Securitisation noteholders that have tendered their notes (SCI passim). As such, it wrote to the trustee in respect of its £3.15m fees stated in the issuer's April distribution report, which Clifden believes are potentially excessive and not commensurate with the fees incurred over the last few reporting periods. The trustee’s response stated that all of its costs were properly incurred in accordance with its rights and obligations under the trust deed and that the cash manager is expected to issue an update that will provide a breakdown of the April 2018 trustee fees. Clifden says it continues to reserve all of its rights, including seeking injunctive relief against the trustee and to bring a claim against it in respect of any breach of duty

HLTV refi option updated

The GSEs have updated their high loan-to-value streamline refinancing option in support of the single security initiative. One of the main changes is an increase in the minimum LTV ratio on a one-unit principal residence to 97.01% from 95.01%, reflecting the convergence of Freddie Mac offerings with those of Fannie Mae. The other main change is the introduction of loan level pricing caps. Wells Fargo structured products analysts note that generally, below 105% LTV, there are no price breaks and borrowers will continue paying normal LLPAs. However, from 105%-115% LTV and below 680 FICO, pricing breaks start to kick in. Above 115% LTV, pricing breaks kick in almost immediately below 740 FICO.

ILS

TigerRisk Capital Markets and Advisory, the insurance-focused investment banking subsidiary of TigerRisk Partners, has formed Panthera Re, to facilitate access to capital markets for TigerRisk’s insurance and reinsurance company clients. Panthera Re is a Bermuda-domiciled vehicle which allows clients to access third-party capital investors in an efficient manner. The vehicle has the ability to transform a wide variety of risks and contract types, making them accessible and tradeable to institutional investors. Panthera Re offers standardised documentation which helps streamline the process, but can also be utilised for more customised transactions. 

Twelve Capital has hired Jamie Rodney as director of ILS analytics. Rodney was previously divisional director, catastrophe analytics at Willis Re.

Libor replacement progressing

ISDA is expected to begin a consultation regarding synthetic Libor - the credit spread between an Ibor and the related risk-free rate (RFR) - next month. The three options reportedly under consideration are: a static add-on credit spread using the basis between the Ibor and RFR levels that existed the day before a public announcement triggering fall-back clauses; a static spread using the historical mean of the same basis over a given period of time; and a dynamic forward-rate approach, based on observed market prices for the forward Ibor-RFR spread. Meanwhile, CREFC reports that it has joined the US Fed’s alternative reference rate committee (ARRC) securitisation working group, which is putting together a list of key trigger events that would precipitate a move away from Libor to an alternative benchmark. The next step in the process will involve tackling fall-back language for both asset- and securitisation-level loan documents.

North America

Apollo Investment Corp has appointed Howard Widra - who has served as president of the company since June 2016 - ceo, succeeding James Zelter. Zelter will continue to serve as a director and Widra has also been named a director. Tanner Powell has been appointed president of the company, filling the vacancy created by Widra’s appointment. Powell will also continue to serve as cio for the company’s investment adviser.

Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss has announced that it will be launching a bank loan strategy as of June 2018 and it will be managed by new hires Nick Losey and Chet Paipanadiker who were both previously portfolio managers at Whitebox Advisors where they helped to launch a CLO platform. They will report to to Mark Luchsinger and Scott McDonald, the co-heads of fixed income at Barrow Hanley.

Capitala Group has opened an office in Manhattan and hired Kelly Stotler as director, focused on sourcing, executing and monitoring new transactions for the firm. Stotler has over 15 years of middle market loan origination, underwriting and portfolio management experience, having previously served as md - head of loan originations for Czech Asset Management. Before that, he worked at HIG Whitehorse and GE Capital Corporate Lending.

Co-ceo Oliver Wriedt has left CIFC with immediate effect to pursue other opportunities. He is replaced by Steve Vaccaro, a founding member of the firm and who has served as co-ceo since 2014 and cio since 2011. Vaccaro will become sole ceo.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCoy has hired Sean Solis at the firm’s structured finance and securitisation group in Milbank’s New York office. Solis' practice is focused on structured products and other similar capital markets transactions, the formation and representation of credit funds, and capital markets regulation, with a focus on the risk retention regulations in both the EU and US.

Permira Debt Managers has hired Pierre Driant from Oz Management, formely Och-Ziff, to join the new CLO strategy that launched this year. Driant, who has significant experience as an analyst responsible for CLO structuring at Och-Ziff, US Bank and BNY Mellon, will be responsible for structuring the new Providus CLO platform.

NPL sale

AIB Group has agreed to sell a non-performing loan portfolio to Everyday Finance under a consortium arrangement with Everyday and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management. At 31 March 2018, the loan portfolio had a gross balance sheet value of €1.1bn and AIB will receive a cash consideration of €800m at completion of the transaction. The portfolio comprises approximately 3,700 investment asset properties, with around 90% of them over two years in arrears.

Partnerships

Ostrum Asset Management and Natixis’ corporate and investment banking arm have joined forces to set up a co-investment offering on real asset private debt. The three main strategic sectors will be real estate, infrastructure and aviation. Ostrum has also appointed Denis Prouteau as real asset private debt chief investment officer. Prouteau was previously head of global markets research at Natixis.

SBBS rules unveiled

The European Commission has unveiled new rules designed to facilitate the market-led development of sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBS) by removing what it describes as “unwarranted regulatory obstacles”. SBBS would be issued by private institutions as claims on a portfolio of euro-area government bonds, without involving mutualisation of risks and losses among euro area member states. The aim is to help investors diversify their sovereign portfolios, leading to more integrated and stronger financial markets. The proposal would grant SBBS the same regulatory treatment as national euro-denominated sovereign bonds, providing they meet precise eligibility criteria.