Company hires and sector developments

Acis restructuring confirmed

The US bankruptcy court in Dallas has confirmed Acis Capital Management's Chapter 11 restructuring plan, following its conversion from an involuntary bankruptcy case initiated by former head of Highland Capital Management's structured products team and founder/former partner in Acis Joshua Terry (SCI 9 November 2018). Upon emergence from bankruptcy, Acis will be owned and operated by Terry, while retaining substantial litigation claims against Highland, its affiliates and principals James Dondero and Mark Okada. The plan of reorganisation proposes to pay creditors in full. Brigade Capital Management is currently acting as sub-adviser for the Acis CLOs.

DLT ABCP pilot

Weinberg Capital is set to issue and settle ABCP notes via a distributed ledger technology-based online electronic platform during a pilot phase. The platform will also record the ownership of the DLT ABCP notes, which will rank pari passu and benefit from the same security as other ABCP notes issued by Weinberg Capital, including full liquidity support and indemnity provided by the programme administrator LBBW. Moody's has determined that the pilot issuance will not result in the downgrade or withdrawal of the rating currently assigned to the notes previously issued by the programme.

Fund service repositioned

Intertrust has has repositioned its fund services team in the Channel Islands to ensure future growth and development. Two specialist service teams, private equity and real estate, have been defined within the fund service line in the Channel Islands. Michael Johnson, head of funds in the Channel Islands, now oversees both Intertrust’s private equity and real estate businesses. He will lead a team of more than 150 fund service specialists across Jersey and Guernsey, making Intertrust one of the largest fund administration businesses in the islands. Alex Di Santo, as head of private equity, will continue to lead a team of 65 industry specialists and grow Intertrust’s private equity business in Jersey. Di Santo has more than 15 years’ experience in the sector and a comprehensive knowledge of offshore and onshore fund structuring. Kees Jager, as head of funds Guernsey, will focus on growing the business in the island and strengthening the links between the Guernsey and Jersey teams. Jager has over 19 years' experience working in fund administration. Jane Stammers has been appointed head of real estate and has more than 20 years’ experience in offshore administration, specialising in providing strong offshore management and corporate governance. She has comprehensive technical and practical expertise of real estate structures, including acquisition, financial, structuring and disposals. 

Private assets head appointed

Schroders has hired Georg Wunderlin, most recently the ceo of HQ Capital, to the newly-created role of global head of private assets in May. He will focus on developing and executing Schroders’ private assets growth strategy across these specialist asset classes on a global scale and enabling the business to better deliver private assets-focused investment solutions for clients.  He will report to group chief executive Peter Harrison and join the Group Management Committee.