Sector developments and company hires

Acquisitions

American Mortgage Consultants (AMC) has acquired Meridian Asset Services, (Meridian), joining two of the premier service providers in the residential secondary mortgage market. The transaction will unite Meridian’s leading collateral, curative and title QC capabilities with AMC’s third-party review services and technology to support rated private-label securitisation transactions, due diligence and quality control. Meridian will operate as a subsidiary of AMC and retain its branding and senior management team. Meridian will continue to be overseen by Karen Riffe who is joining AMC as the president, Meridian Asset Services. Brian Hansen will also join AMC as the director, strategic relationships and initiatives. Through the acquisition, AMC will add approximately 250 full-time employees in the greater Tampa area.

Europe

DLA Piper has hired Jacques Wantz as partner to its tax practice, based in Luxembourg. Wantz joins the firm from Allen & Overy, where he worked since 2008 and he specialises in international and corporate tax law, focussing on the tax aspects of cross-border private equity, real estate and debt investments and the tax structuring of regulated and unregulated investment funds. He also advises on the tax elements of corporate restructurings, securitisation and capital markets transactions.

ILS

Rick Pagnani has been named evp and head of PIMCO’s ILS business, based in Bermuda. Pagnani was previously ceo of Mt Logan Re and md at Everest Global Services. Before that, he was a partner at TigerRisk Partners and ceo of Ascendant Reinsurance.

Japanese office opened

SANNE, a global provider of alternative asset and corporate services, has opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan. SANNE has appointed Mark Bennett as country head of SANNE’s Japanese business. 

Loan disposal

Separate meetings of Marketplace Originated Consumer Assets 2017-1 noteholders have been convened for 14 January to consider and, if thought fit, pass an ordinary resolution in accordance with the provisions of the transaction’s trust deed to dispose of 550 delinquent loans from the portfolio. Based on the cut-off date of 16 October 2018, the loans have a total principal amount outstanding of £3.86m, of which £75,102 subsequently defaulted (as of 31 December 2018). The proceeds from the sale of the assets is expected to be £957,015.

Solar equity ABS

Canadian Solar has completed the first equity securitisation to be backed by long-term contracted solar assets. The firm successfully raised ¥6.3bn from a diversified mix of Japanese and Korean institutional investors in its inaugural transaction, dubbed Canadian Solar Securitized Green Equity Trust 1. Proceeds from the offering were deployed to acquire the 23.8MWp Smart Solar Yamaguchi-Aio Solar Power Plant and the 10.2MWp CSJ Kamikitagun Rokunohemachi Solar Power Plant. Maturing in September 2037, the securities have been rated as Green 1 (the highest ESG investment tier) by the Japan Credit Rating Agency, while the underlying solar power plants have each received a single-A rating as non-recourse project bonds. Electricity generation from the plants will be purchased by Tohoku Electric Power Co and Chugoku Electric Power Company under 20-year feed-in-tariff contracts at the rates of ¥36 and ¥40 per kWh respectively. The portfolio is expected to produce 38,580 MWh of clean solar energy annually, or sufficient to reduce 25,441 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

US

SFIG has named Michael Bright as president and ceo, effective 21 January 2019. Bright will lead SFIG's education, policy and advocacy initiatives, helping to achieve the group's goal of building the broadest possible consensus among members across the industry, and reinforcing the understanding that securitisation is an essential source of core funding for the real economy. He will report to SFIG's board of directors He has extensive experience as a policymaker, practitioner and leader across all aspects of the securities industries. He joins SFIG from Ginnie Mae, where he was evp and coo, managing all operations for Ginnie Mae's US$2trn MBS portfolio.