Company hires and sector developments

Acquisitions

doBank has acquired 85% of NPL servicer Altamira Asset Management from entities affiliated with funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, following a competitive sales process. The shareholding involved in the sale may be increased to 100%, should Santander - holder of the remaining 15% interest in the share capital of Altamira - decide to exercise its tag-along right provided for in existing agreements before closing. The acquisition of 100% of Altamira has been valued at €412m in enterprise value, plus an earn-out of up to €48m linked to the international development of the business. The combined entities will have assets under management of over €140bn (gross book value) and over 2,200 employees.

Mr Cooper Group is set to acquire servicing rights underlying US$24bn in GSE mortgages, while entering into a subservicing contract for an additional US$24bn of mortgages and purchasing the Seterus mortgage servicing platform from IBM. IBM acquired Seterus in the wake of the financial crisis to help a client manage a portfolio of distressed loans, but the portfolio has now stabilised and is no longer core to its business. Mr. Cooper expects to fund the acquisition with financing on the mortgage servicing rights and cash. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is targeted to close in 1Q19.

EMEA

Proskauer has recruited corporate partner Elisabeth Baltay to its London office, to help build the firm’s position in the restructuring space. Baltay represents clients in complex multi-jurisdictional financing and alternative capital financing, restructurings, real estate and asset financing, public to private financing, project finance and secured syndicated corporate lending. She was previously a partner at King & Spalding.

North America

Eversheds Sutherland has promoted Jenny Worthy to counsel. Resident in the firm’s Atlanta office, Worthy advises banks, REITs, insurance companies and borrowers in financing commercial real estate transactions, including origination, workouts and distressed asset transactions. She also works with lending clients on the origination of loans with diverse debt stack structures, including single asset, mezzanine and financings intended for securitisation. The firm has also promoted Sean Diamond to the role of counsel and he will work out of its New York office. His experience includes includes purchases and sales of entities, acquisitions and dispositions of blocks of business using indemnity or assumption reinsurance, credit for reinsurance, servicing arrangements, surplus notes, credit facilities, and life insurance reserve securitisation transactions.

Reich Brothers Holdings has recapitalised its affiliated asset-based lending company, now known as Reich Bros Structured Finance. As part of the recapitalisation, the firm has obtained increased credit facilities allowing for growth of the loan portfolio. A Liquid Capital Corp affiliate provided a portion of the facilities and has also taken an equity stake in the business. The principals of Reich Brothers, Jonathan and Adam Reich, will maintain their ownership stake in the business. Additionally, former Victory Park Capital principal Jordan Allen has joined the company as a principal, while Lee Portman – previously cfo at INXPO – has been named cfo. 

Reinsurer CRT

Freddie Mac has expanded its multifamily credit risk transfer platform with the closing of its first transaction – dubbed MCIP 2018-1 – under its new Multifamily Credit Insurance Pool (MCIP) offering. In MCIP transactions, Freddie Mac enters into long-term credit insurance contracts covering credit losses from existing multifamily loans in its portfolio or bonds that Freddie Mac fully guarantees. The structure transfers a percentage of credit risk to reinsurers, helping reduce the GSE’s need to hold capital for the underlying loans in the pool. Under MCIP 2018-1, Freddie Mac purchased credit risk insurance for the first 5% of credit losses on a US$915m reference pool, consisting of 55 loans in its Bond Credit Enhancement and Multifamily Participation Certificate programme portfolios. Five reinsurers participated in the transaction.