Sector developments and company hires

Pan-European logistics CMBS prepped
Blackstone Real Estate Partners is in the market with a €318.6m single-loan pan-European CMBS. Dubbed Pearl Finance 2020, the transaction is secured by 61 predominantly last-mile logistics assets across Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The assets are valued by Cushman & Wakefield at €576.9m, as of 31 July 2020. Portfolio occupancy currently stands at 95% and benefits from a granular rent roll comprising over 350 tenants. The properties are expected to be fully integrated into Mileway, the largest last-mile logistics real estate company in Europe.

The €158.5m class A1 notes are being publicly offered, with IPTs set at three-month Euribor plus 140bp-150bp. Classes A2 through E are preplaced.

Pricing is anticipated as early as 30 October. BNP Paribas, BofA Securities and Societe Generale are arrangers and joint lead managers on the deal.

In other news…

EMEA
Blackstar Capital has appointed Simon Smart as head of credit and special situations and James Paul as portfolio manager. Smart will be responsible for expanding the company’s capabilities in providing innovative structured credit solutions to corporate clients, as well as expanding Blackstar’s capabilities into special situations advisory and financing. He most recently worked at BTG Pactual, having had a diverse career, including developing regulatory capital structures in the reinsurance industry.

Paul will be primarily focused on creating highly structured secured financing solutions for corporate clients operating both within the sport industry and beyond. He joins Blackstar from 23 Capital, where he worked as a credit and portfolio manager for two years. Previously, he held the roles of avp at Credit Suisse and analyst at JPMorgan.

Irish BTL portfolio divested
Permanent TSB is set to sell a €1.2bn (net book value) portfolio of around 3,700 Irish performing buy-to-let mortgage loans to Citi. Following the acquisition, Citi is expected to syndicate the portfolio through a securitisation. Permanent TSB will continue to service the loans for up to six months, after which legal title and servicing will be transferred to Pepper Finance.

‘True lender’ rule finalised
The US OCC has submitted for publication in the Federal Register a final rule to determine when a bank makes a loan and is the ‘true lender’. Under this rule, a bank is the true lender, if - as of the date of origination - is named as the lender in the loan agreement or funds the loan. The rule aims to provide certainty about key aspects of the legal framework that applies to loans made as part of banks’ relationships with third parties.