Sector developments and company hires

Balance sheet normalisation
The US Fed has confirmed it intends to continue to allow its holdings of agency debt and agency MBS to decline, consistent with the aim of holding primarily Treasury securities in the longer run. Beginning in October 2019, principal payments received from agency debt and agency MBS will be reinvested in Treasury securities, subject to a maximum amount of US$20bn per month. Any principal payments in excess of that maximum will continue to be reinvested in agency MBS. However, it states that limited sales of agency MBS might be warranted in the longer run to reduce or eliminate residual holdings.

CLO manager acquisition
Medalist Partners has acquired a majority stake in JMP Credit Advisors from a subsidiary of JMP Group, which will remain as a minority investor in JMP Credit Advisors and an investor in the CLOs that JMP Credit Advisors manages. As a result of the transaction, JMP Credit Advisors has been renamed Medalist Partners Corporate Finance and it will continue to manage three CLOs with approximately US$1.2bn in assets under management. JMP Credit Advisors’ leadership team - which includes Bryan Hamm, Craig Kitchin and Fred Passenant - will lead the CLO business unit of Medalist Partners, supported by their existing team. No changes are planned to JMP Credit Advisors’ investment strategy or process.

EMEA
Ashurst has appointed Audrey Dahan counsel in its global markets practice in Paris. Dahan was previously domestic markets coordinator for strategic projects at BNP Paribas and has experience of working on capital market transactions, including securitisations. She worked in the CIB global markets division of BNP Paribas for 15 years.

North America
Paul Richardson has joined LTC Global as svp - capital markets. Prior to joining the firm, Richardson was an md in the asset-backed securitisation group of KeyBanc Capital Markets. He has completed 95 public and private asset-backed term securitisations worth approximately US$12bn during his 25-year investment banking career with KeyBanc, BB&T Capital Markets and others.

Western Asset has named Greg Handler and Harris Trifon co-heads of its mortgage- and asset-backed team. With nearly US$10.5bn in assets under management dedicated to ABS and MBS mandates, Handler and Trifon provide oversight to the investment team across all sub-sectors of structured credit, both in securitised and whole loan form. The pair has also joined the US broad strategy committee, reporting to deputy cio Michael Buchanan. Western Asset’s director of portfolio operations Dennis McNamara - who has served as interim head of the mortgage- and asset-backed team - will continue to work closely with them to provide support and ensure a smooth transition.

Verification agent
PCS has confirmed its authorisation as a third-party verification agent by the UK FCA, which enables it to provide verifications for European originators of the STS status of their securitisations in line with Article 27 of the STS Regulation. The authorisation is valid for the entire EU and will continue to be so for so long as the UK remains in the EU or, in the event of a Brexit deal being struck, during the transition period expected to last 18 months. In the case of a no deal Brexit on 29 March, PCS also anticipates receiving its French authorisation in the first days of April, allowing it to continue to serve the EU27.