Sector developments and company hires

Ceo appointed

CAC Specialty has appointed Michael Rice as ceo, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the insurance brokerage industry. Most recently, he served as the founding ceo and executive chairman of JLT Specialty USA. Previously, he spent more than 20 years at Aon, serving in various leadership capacities.

Morgan refis due

The August remittances for a number of Morgan Communities loans securitised in Freddie Mac CMBS report that property management has changed from Grand Atlas to Morgan Properties King of Prussia Management. The move follows the transfer of 90 Robert Morgan properties to a new joint venture with Morgan Properties, which was disclosed in a letter to the Monroe County Supreme Court arguing that receivership for at least one property - known as Greenwood Cove - is no longer necessary, given that it is now part of the JV (SCI 30 May). A recent Morgan Stanley analysis identifies a total of 47 loans in the new JV that are encumbered by around US$724m of CMBS debt. The letter states that as part of the JV, nearly US$627m of debt on 52 contributed properties will be refinanced, which "will result in the repayment in full of the plaintiff's mortgage lien".

SOFR debut

NewDay Funding 2019-2, which settled last week, is believed to be the first ABS comprising a tranche linked to the SOFR index. Arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Santander and SG, the UK credit card securitisation’s US dollar-denominated class A notes were preplaced at SOFR plus 94bp. The remainder of the capital structure – classes B to F – were sterling-denominated and linked to SONIA.

TPR acceptance

Fitch has added mortgage services provider Consolidated Analytics its list of accepted third-party review firms, performing due diligence on RMBS. The rating agency affirmed the quality and objectivity of Consolidated Analytics’ RMBS due diligence reviews, as well as the adequacy of its operations history, quality control processes and procedures, staffing and training, technology and reporting, and mortgage underwriting expertise. The firm is also approved by S&P, KBRA, Morningstar Credit Ratings and DBRS, and has undergone a review by Moody’s Analytics.