Sector developments and company hires

CLO team finds new home
Fidelity International has established a new private credit capability with experienced hires from AnaCap-owned MeDirect Bank. Concurrently, the firm has been awarded the delegation of management for the €400m Grand Harbour CLO 2019-1 transaction. Fidelity says it will continue to engage with MeDirect to explore further strategic opportunities.

The private credit team will continue to be led by Michael Curtis, who has over 20 years’ experience in European private credit markets, having worked for ICG, 3i and Alpstar Capital. He is joined by credit portfolio manager Camille McLeod-Salmon and CLO structurer Cyrille Javaux. McLeod-Salmon has 14 years’ experience investing in credit, having worked for BNP Paribas IM and Fortis prior to MeDirect. Javaux brings 17 years’ experience in CLO structuring, investing and trading, having worked at StormHarbour, Hayfin and Cairn Capital.

The trio is joined by an operations head and a team of six credit analysts with over 70 years of combined experience. The team will transition to Fidelity in March.

Curtis will become head of private credit strategies at Fidelity and his team will report directly into Fidelity’s global cio Andrew McCaffery.

Using the team’s specialist skills, track record and experience, Fidelity intends to enhance its broader alternatives ambitions by developing a full range of private credit strategies.

In other news…

BTV inks SME SRT
The EIB Group has guaranteed a mezzanine tranche of a synthetic securitisation issued by Bank für Tirol and Vorarlberg (BTV). The transaction was arranged by Erste Bank and is expected to provide capital relief under the EU CRR framework.

It employs the use of a synthetic excess spread equivalent to the one-year expected loss of the reference portfolio. The capital relief provided by the transaction will enable the bank to originate a new portfolio of eligible loans to SMEs and mid-caps of up to €435m, mainly in Tirol, Vorarlberg, Vienna and southern Germany.

The transaction was made possible by the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). Under the deal, the EIF will issue a guarantee covering two mezzanine tranches of a total of €130.53m. This consists of an upper mezzanine tranche to be guaranteed by the EIF on an own-risk basis for €44.20m and a lower mezzanine tranche to be fronted by the EIF and counter-guaranteed by the EIB for €86.33m. The €690m portfolio is a granular pool of SME and mid-cap loans.

Cornerstone investment
Integral ILS has received a cornerstone investment from New Holland Capital. Integral has now secured US$600m of signed commitments for its new dedicated ILS strategy. NHC will also provide Integral with strategic support.

LendingClub, Radius merger approved
LendingClub has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Radius Bancorp and its wholly owned subsidiary Radius Bank in a cash and stock transaction valued at US$185m. By combining Radius and LendingClub, the online lender intends to create a digitally native marketplace bank at scale, enabling consumers to both pay less when borrowing and earn more when saving. LendingClub provides a digital asset generation platform, while Radius contributes a leading online deposit gathering platform.

The combination will also deliver regulatory clarity through a direct relationship with a primary regulator. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the next 12-15 months.

North America
New York finance partner Bonnie Neuman has been appointed head of Cadwalader’s real estate finance practice. Neuman focuses on commercial real estate finance and represents lenders, investors and servicers in domestic and cross-border transactions. This includes the origination of mortgage and mezzanine loans, loan syndication, loan servicing, CMBS and non-performing loan securitisations, loan restructuring and bankruptcy-related matters.

Reperforming RMBS prepped
Morgan Stanley is in the market with an Irish RMBS that securitises a portfolio of 2,405 owner-occupied and buy-to-let predominantly reperforming loans. Dubbed Shamrock Residential 2021-1, the €425.4m deal features an innovative yield supplement overcollateralisation of 4% that is included to mitigate the low weighted average rate of 1.7% on the loans. It can be utilised to enhance the portfolio weighted average coupon by as much as 0.4% per annum, according to Rabobank credit analysts.

The pool comprises two purchased portfolios: Monaco, acquired from Cerberus; and Nore, acquired from Lone Star. Some 22.8% of the pool is currently in arrears of more than one month, while 47.8% of borrowers have had their loans restructured in the past.