Sector developments and company hires

Acquisition
Link Group has signed an agreement to acquire Pepper European Servicing from Pepper Group for an upfront consideration of €165m. The meeting of AUM thresholds and growth milestones could trigger an additional consideration of €35m. The acquisition will deliver immediate scale for Link Group’s banking and credit management division in existing and new jurisdictions, and does not impact on the services provided to residential or commercial customers serviced by PES whose terms, conditions and contact points all remain the same. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in 2H20. Combined, the businesses will have approximately €130bn of AUM and employ over 1,800 people.

GSE advisor named
The FHFA has selected Houlihan Lokey Capital as a financial advisor to assist in the development and implementation of a roadmap to responsibly end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While developing the roadmap, Houlihan Lokey will consider business and capital structures, market impacts and timing, and available capital raising alternatives. The contract amount for the first year is US$9m and the FHFA has options to extend for an additional 4.5 years, with the total contract not to exceed US$45m.

North America
Sound Point Capital Management has appointed Francis McCullough as global head of CLO capital markets and structuring. McCullough joins Sound Point from Deutsche Bank, where he spent the past 16 years, most recently as md and global head of new issue CLOs. While at Deutsche Bank, McCullough worked in both New York and London and was responsible for originating, structuring and syndicating CLOs.