Sector developments and company hires

CLO firm partner promotion

DFG Investment Advisers has promoted Timothy Milton to partner. Since joining the firm in 2014, Milton has been responsible for the management of the Vibrant Capital CLO platform in his capacity as co-portfolio manager. In addition, Eduardo Cabral has joined DFG’s credit research team as an md, having been a portfolio manager and senior analyst at long/short funds focused on fundamental investing across debt and equity since 2011. Roberta Goss, co-portfolio manager of the Vibrant CLO platform, has decided to leave the firm to join another credit platform.

Global trading head appointed

Sebastien Cottrell has assumed responsibility for securitised products trading globally, at Deutsche Bank. Cottrell has been with the bank for 10 years in a variety of roles, including correlation trading and most recently, head of US CLO trading.

Law firm makes handful of hires

Walker & Dunlop has added five debt and equity finance professionals in Houston, Texas: mds Mike Melody, Tom Melody, Tom Fish and Paul House, as well as svp Jonathan Paine. The group - which previously oversaw Jones Lang LaSalle's national capital markets finance platform - will be responsible for securing financing for owners and developers of all commercial real estate asset classes in Southwestern US. The addition of the team marks Walker & Dunlop's first office in Houston, which will
comprise a 10-person staff, with plans for continued expansion.
Ukranian disposals

First Financial Network has announced the offering of three pools of Ukrainian non-performing loans totaling US$1.35bn. The largest of the three pools, the $540 million IMEXBANK loan portfolio, includes the real estate-owned Chornomorets Stadium in Odessa.