Sector developments and company hires

Moody’s move mezz positive

Moody's has issued a request for comment on proposed changes to its methodology for rating CLOs that adjust its analytical treatment of corporate obligors with a negative outlook or whose ratings are on review for upgrade or downgrade. If the proposal is adopted, Moody’s expects an overall positive impact of a one-notch upgrade that will affect around 8% of the approximately 7,000 outstanding CLO tranches it rates in the US and EMEA. The impact will be concentrated mostly on tranches currently rated Ba and higher, although the agency does not expect that any Aa rated tranches in EMEA will be impacted.

The RFC deadline is 19 October and, unless changes are made following the comment period, this updated credit rating methodology will be adopted as proposed and replace the version from 14 August 2020.

In other news…

ADB investment
Clifford Capital Holdings (CCH) has received a US$95m investment from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will support its future growth plans, including broadening its business capabilities to address the increased demand for sustainable infrastructure financing in Asia. ADB will have a shareholding interest of 6.3% in CCH immediately post-closing and a pro forma shareholding of 10.8% once all equity capital committed has been fully deployed.

The transaction comprises a US$50m investment from ADB and a US$45m investment from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), which is administered by ADB. It marks ADB’s first investment in a Singapore entity since the opening of its Singapore office in March 2020.

AMR auction due
An AMR auction for Mountain View CLO XIV is scheduled for 29 September, facilitated by the KopenTech platform. The number of broker-dealer participants on the platform has increased from five in January’s auction to 13. Bids can now be submitted through Alliance Global Partners, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Brownstone Investment Group, GreensLedge Capital Markets, Janney Montgomery Scott, Jefferies, MUFG, Nomura, Odeon Capital Group, RBC, RW Baird and Seaport Global Securities. 

EMEA
Credit Suisse has hired Dimitris Papadopoulos as head of European CLO origination and syndication. He joins Credit Suisse from Natixis, where he was head of structured credit syndication and CLO origination. Papadopoulos replaces Florent Chagnard.

North America
Aon has hired Stephen Pett as vp and broker within its reinsurance solutions business in Bermuda. He focuses on industry loss warranties and other specialty reinsurance products. Pett joins Aon from Nephila Capital, where he was a senior member of its underwriting team. He reports to Tony Fox, chairman and ceo, Bermuda, for the reinsurance solutions business.

Churchill Asset Management has hired Christopher Freeze as senior md and head of investor relations. Based in New York City, he will report to David Heilbrunn, head of product development & capital raising. Freeze joins Churchill from The Carlyle Group, where he was most recently md and co-head of investor relations.

David Moffitt has joined Investcorp as co-head of US credit management. He is based in New York and reports to Jeremy Ghose, global head of Investcorp Credit Management. Previously, Moffitt was a partner and head of tactical investment opportunities and CLO management at LibreMax Capital, president of Trimaran Advisors and president of CAVU Investment Partners in New York.

Nomura Securities has recruited David Cannon as head of CMO trading, based in New York. He joins Nomura from MUFG, where he was head of MBS sales and trading.

Sabal Capital Partners has appointed Barry Gersten to head of production for its CMBS business. Gersten joined Sabal in early 2020 as md and is based in New York.

Servicer acquisition
SitusAMC has acquired the third-party loan servicing and asset management platform of Cohen Financial, comprising over 120 employees. The acquisition expands SitusAMC's US primary servicing, asset management and special servicing portfolio to approximately 10,000 loans, representing more than US$130bn in total unpaid principal balance.

The consolidated offering will be led by SitusAMC's existing business unit leadership team of Tim Mazzetti, head of US servicing and asset management, and Dean Wheeler, head of client service delivery.

Cohen Financial parent Truist will retain Cohen's debt advisory and placement platform, which it will migrate under the Grandbridge brand. Truist will remain a key banking partner for SitusAMC and its servicing clients.

Strategic relationship inked
Leucadia Asset Management (LAM) has established a strategic relationship with FourSixThree Capital. Led by cio Scott Balkan, FourSixThree focuses on special situations and distressed credit opportunities across sectors and geographies. Balkan will be joined by co-managing partner Bill Kelly, along with co-founders Drew Newton and Rayan Joshi.

Balkan joins FourSixThree Capital from PointState Capital, where he was a portfolio manager and head of credit. Kelly will be the coo and chief compliance officer of the firm and was previously co-founder of Panning Capital Management.

Newton will be head of research upon his anticipated arrival in December and was most recently head of distressed credit research at Goldman Sachs. Finally, Joshi will be head of restructuring, having previously worked at Hawkeye Capital, Panning Capital and Marble Ridge Capital.

As part of the strategic relationship, LAM is providing seed capital to FourSixThree.