Company hires and sector developments

Credit trading expansion

HSBC has hired Asgar Rahemtulla as a director in credit trading. In his new role, Asgar will be responsible for trading European iTraxx index products. He joins HSBC from Bluecrest where he was a Partner and worked as a portfolio manager. Prior to this he spent eight years at Goldman Sachs in a variety of roles including leading iTraxx index trading. The move comes at a time that HSBC is building out its credit derivatives capabilities and he will be based in London, reporting to James Deighton, md, credit trading.

Leopalace defects

Leopalace 21 Corp has disclosed that additional construction defects have been discovered in apartment buildings that it built (SCI 29 June 2018), which Moody’s says are credit negative for the four ABS transactions it rates that are backed by apartment loans on properties built and managed by the firm. The agency warns that the defects could lead to lower rents or higher vacancy rates in the affected buildings. Additional defects were identified in 1,324 apartments built between 1996 and 2001, with residents in 641 apartments asked to promptly vacate their properties because the defects relate to fire resistance requirements. Moody’s notes that the ABS are unlikely to include a material number of loans on apartments affected by the latest round of defects, based on the years the buildings were constructed, but the reputational damage will likely make it harder to attract tenants to the properties.

SME facility secured

Praetura Asset Finance (PAF) Group has closed a £75m securitisation facility with Natwest Markets. The rated facility will allow PAF Group to expand its origination capacity, enabling growth in its loan book to provide up to £200m to SMEs across the UK.