Sector developments and company hires

Overvaluation case settled
The US SEC has accepted an offer of settlement from Semper Capital Management in connection with administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against it. On the basis of the offer, the Commission finds that from July 2013 through May 2014, Semper overvalued certain odd lot positions in securities held by the Semper MBS Total Return Fund (SEMMX), which caused the fund’s NAV to be overstated. Additionally, the SEC states that Semper should have disclosed that its valuation practices for odd lot positions were a material contributor to SEMMX’s reported performance. Semper has agreed to pay disgorgement of US$103,228 and prejudgment interest of US$25,000 to the SEC, as well as a civil monetary penalty of US$375,000.

In other news…

North America
Atalaya Capital Management has appointed Rebecca Chia as head of business development and investor relations, overseeing the firm’s capital development efforts. Chia most recently was head of marketing at Third Point Management and spent the majority of her career at Davidson Kempner Capital Management, where she was the head of Asia-Pacific sales and client service. She began her career as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers.

US Bank has recruited Sean Kelley as head of CLO data analytics and research, based in Chicago. He has been tasked with developing new portfolio management and data analytics tools to enhance the bank’s Pivot client portal, as well as expanding its CLO market research offering. Kelley was formerly vp - CLO management at PPM America, which he joined in 2009, having previously worked at Tall Tree Investment Management and Van Kampen Funds.

Second agency downgrades UK CMBS
DBRS Morningstar has downgraded its ratings on the class A, B, C, D and E notes issued by the Elizabeth Finance 2018 CMBS, and changed the trend on the class A notes to negative from stable, in line with the other classes of notes. The move follows S&P’s lowering of these ratings last month, in light of the updated market valuation for the Maroon loan (SCI 30 March). Although DBRS Morningstar initially believed that the revaluation appeared quite conservative, given that the performance of the Maroon loan’s portfolio improved over the past year, the agency notes the revaluation is now more in line with the current deteriorating UK retail sector after the outbreak of Covid-19. The current uncertainty about how the coronavirus outbreak and the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU will affect the UK economy - and in particular, the UK retail property market - is reflected in the negative trend assigned to the notes.