Company hires and sector developments

Astra case development

Judge Jennifer Frisch of the Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District, has denied Goldman Sachs’ motion to dismiss the claims asserted against it by Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of its client, Astra Asset Management, seeking termination of the Abacus 2006-10 synthetic CDO. The case is proceeding with discovery, with trial scheduled for October 2019.

Europe

Kartesia has hired Giuseppe Mirante as head of credit opportunities for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), responsible for the origination, analysis and execution of credit opportunities in the region. He will initially be based in Frankfurt and open a second German office in Munich later in the year. Mirante was previously an md at HIG Bayside and, before that, head of distressed and loan research at BNP Paribas in London.

Merger opposed

Marathon Asset Management has submitted letters to the special committees of both Medley Capital Corp’s board and Sierra Income Corp’s board, opposing the proposed merger of the two firms, with SIC as the surviving entity. Marathon is encouraging stockholders of MCC and SIC to vote against the merger, due it not being “in the best interest” of shareholders. The firm has put forward an alternative transaction, whereby MCC and SIC remain independent companies and their investment advisory relationships with each other are terminated. Marathon instead suggests that MCC and SIC enter into new investment management contracts with itself, which it implies would deliver superior value to their shareholders.

US

Annaly Capital Management has elected Thomas Hamilton, former global head of securitised product trading and banking at Barclays, as an independent member of its board. Hamilton has served as the president, ceo and owner of Construction Forms since 2013.