Sector developments and company hires

EMEA
Michael Newell has joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a partner in London. A member of INREV’s Public Affairs Committee, Newell was previously a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. His focus is the formation of real asset funds, credit funds and hedge funds, as well as technology and emerging market focused private equity funds.

North America
KBRA has named Eric Thompson global head of structured finance ratings. He will now oversee the ABS, RMBS, CMBS, structured credit and REIT areas of the business.

Strategic JV
Former Macquarie Group senior investment specialist Teiki Benveniste has been appointed head of the newly-formed Ares Australia Management (AAM), which was formed as a strategic joint venture between Ares Management Corporation and Fidante Partners in October 2019. Based in Sydney, Australia, Benveniste will be responsible for building strong investor interest in the specialist asset manager and for increasing assets under management. He will also serve as a liaison with Fidante Partners, which will provide product distribution, local fund reporting and back office administration. AAM expects to launch its first credit fund in the coming months, with further strategies to follow.

Trustee confirmed
The Business Mortgage Finance 4, 5, 6 and 7 issuers have informed noteholders that on 22 January they received a letter from Alfred Olutayo Oyekoya, in which he claimed that he had assumed the position of trustee in relation to the charged property. The purported assumption of position follows a series of similar steps taken by Oyekoya and others in relation to the BUMF 6 CMBS, which led to the Order of Justice Zacaroli dated 31 July 2019 (SCI passim). Oyekoya is a debtor of BUMF 6, as he failed to discharge his obligations owed to the transaction under the 31 July Order, and is the subject of a bankruptcy petition to be heard on 29 June. The issuers inform noteholders that it considers the purported assumption of position to be of no effect and that BNY Mellon remains the sole trustee.