Sector developments and company hires

Holmes Master Trust margins amended

Moody’s comments that the proposed amendments to the 2017-1 Class A2 and 2018-1 Class A3 notes issued by Holmes Master Trust will not, in and of themselves and at this time, result in a reduction or withdrawal of all the notes ratings currently assigned to Holmes Master Issuer. The proposal is to change the underlying reference index on the notes from three-month sterling Libor to daily-compounded Sonia with a margin increase of no more than 20bps on 2017-1 Class A2 and 2018-1 Class A3 notes. The proposed increased margin applies to both pre step-up margins and post step-up margins. Moody's has determined that the proposal, in and of itself and at this time, will not result in the downgrade or withdrawal of all the motes ratings currently assigned to Holmes Master Issuer.

ILS fund hire

Markel Corp has hired Brenton Slade as president of Lodgepine Capital Management, its new retrocessional ILS fund based in Bermuda (SCI 11 September). He was previously svp at Hamilton Capital Partners and coo for the Horseshoe Group. Between 2005 and 2013, Slade was a member of the executive committee and chief marketing and capital markets officer for Flagstone Reinsurance, responsible for capital market initiatives, including the ILS business.

Investment firm hires partner

SDG Investments has added Stefan Bund as a partner, joining the team of founding and managing partners Frank Ackermann und Lars Hunsche. He will focus on strategy, product structuring and internationalisation of the organisation. Bund previously served as executive board member at Scope Ratings and ceo at Scope Risk Solutions, and before that was md at WestLB and Fitch.

Near-prime Canadian RMBS

Home Trust Company has privately placed its debut near-prime RMBS – the C$500m Classic RMBS Trust Series 2019-1 – with accredited investors in Canada and the US by a syndicate led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and co-managed by BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets. The C$425m class A tranche is rated triple-A by DBRS and Moody’s and will bear interest at an annual rate of 3.011%. The firm says that issuing RMBS, in addition to its existing base of customer deposits and CMHC-sponsored securitisation programmes, represents an attractive funding option and it expects to be a serial issuer of RMBS in the future – with the aim of helping to establish a private RMBS market in Canada.

Partner announced

Michael Halsbad has joined McDermott, Will & Emery as partner. He was previously at Drinker Biddle & Reath as partner and he has worked in the capital markets, reinsurance and insurance industries as an attorney and in investment banking for 25 years. At McDermott, Will & Emery he is in the corporate advisory group and serves as co-chair of the insurance transaction and regulation practice.

Recapitalisation finalised

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Bain Capital Credit (BCC) has completed the recapitalisation of two legacy funds and the sale of assets into a new continuation vehicle capitalised by funds managed by Neuberger Berman (NB), existing limited partners (LPs), and BCC. The transaction involved Sankaty Credit Opportunities II, LP (COPs II) and Sankaty Credit Opportunities III, LP (COPs III), as well as other legacy BCC investment vehicles. COPs II was a 2005 vintage fund with US$1.35bn of initial commitments, and COPs III was a 2007 vintage fund with US$2.2bn of initial commitments. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to BCC on the transaction. The transaction highlights the firm's ability to execute complex fund recapitalisations to address end-of-life and liquidity issues for private equity and credit-focused investment managers.

Senior trader appointed

Morgan Stanley has hired Nim Sivakumaran as a senior securitised credit trader. Sivakumaran’s most recent role was as head of European structured credit at Sculptor Capital Management.

SRT upgrades

Scope has upgrade to single-A plus the senior tranche of EIB SME Initiative for Italy, BP Bari – SME SRT. The rating action relates to the senior tranche of a financial guarantee granted by the European Investment Fund to a portfolio of Italian SME loans originated by Banca Popolare di Bari.  The rating upgrade is mainly driven by the better-than-expected performance of the transaction and structural deleveraging. Amortisation is in line with Scope’s expectation. Scope has also upgraded to triple-B plus the senior tranche of EIB SME Initiative for Italy (BCP) – SME SRT. The rating action relates to the senior tranche of a financial guarantee granted by the European Investment Fund to a portfolio of Italian SME loans originated by Banca di Credito Popolare. The rating upgrade is mainly driven by the better-than-expected performance of the transaction and structural deleveraging. Amortisation is in line with Scope’s expectation.