Sector developments and company hires

Leasing CRT inked
The EIB Group has completed its first synthetic securitisation in Romania with a financial services partner. The operation - between the EIB, EIF and Deutsche Leasing Romania - will enable local SMEs across Romania to benefit from €370m of additional leasing finance, predominantly in the agriculture and equipment segments. The majority of borrowers are in rural areas and less developed regions of the country.

The initiative includes €25m targeted support for climate action investment. The EIB Group support is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) and is part of a wider €2bn EIB Group ABS financing programme to address the working capital, liquidity needs and investment challenges facing companies across Europe, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In other news…

ABSPP investments tallied
Net purchases by the ECB’s ABSPP totalled only €1.1bn in full-year 2020, the lowest annual tally since the start of the programme in 4Q14, according to JPMorgan international ABS analysts. However, with the addition of €9.1bn of record redemptions during the year, gross purchases reached €10.2bn - comparable to the central bank’s activity in full-year 2017.

Meanwhile, it acquired €28.8bn of covered bonds on a net basis last year, including €3.1bn of purchases via the PEPP. The JPMorgan analysts note that gross purchases were augmented to €62.1bn – the most since full-year 2016 – by record redemption volume of €33.2bn under the CBPP3 over the course of 2020.

Looking ahead, they project €100m of monthly ABS net purchases and €2.5bn of monthly covered bond net purchases in full-year 2021. If realised, this will yield gross purchases of €11.5bn and €59.8bn respectively, driven by corresponding estimated redemption volumes of €10.3bn and €29.8bn during the year.

“As such, the central bank has executed net purchases of -€800m under the ABSPP and -€137m under the CBPP3 since the start of the year through 22 January,” the analysts conclude.

Cross-border SOFR bond placed
NewDay became the first European securitisation issuer to publicly market a US dollar-denominated SOFR-linked bond with its latest UK credit card ABS, Newday Funding Master Issuer – Series 2021-1. The US$135m class A2 notes from NDFT 2021-1 achieved a final coverage ratio of 1.8x and priced at SOFR plus 110bp last week, in comparison with the class A notes from NDFT 2019-2, which were preplaced and came at SOFR plus 94bp in September 2019.

The most recent deal achieved final coverage ratios of 3.1x, 3.6x, 1.5x, 2.8x and 3x for its sterling-denominated tranches across the capital structure, driving DMs 3bp inside the tighter end of guidance for the class A1 and 5bp-15bp inside guidance for the class B to E notes. The master trust securing the transaction includes £1.64bn of credit card receivables, with an average balance of £1,100, according to JPMorgan international ABS analysts.

Separately, Vanquis Bank – the credit card and savings arm of Provident Financial Group – retained another UK credit card ABS last week, dubbed Oban Cards 2021-1. Sized at £453.1m, the deal comprises £233.3m of class A notes (with a coupon of SONIA plus 155bp) and £219.8m of junior notes.

EMEA
DSW Debt Advisory has appointed Lynn Li as manager. Li joins from Deloitte in Manchester, where she was part of the debt advisory team and worked on a wide range of financing deals, including cross-border transactions with a value of over £200m. Based in Cheshire, DSW Debt Advisory was founded in February 2020 by Phil Tarimo, who was joined by Simon Carrier - a former regional md at Shawbrook and Santander – in June.

Natixis has promoted Peter Cui to head of structured credit syndicate, Europe and UK, based in London. He was previously a European and APAC ABS/CLO trader at the bank. Prior to that, Cui worked in ABS/CLO trading roles at Jefferies, Cohen & Company and UBS.

North America
AGL Credit Management has appointed David Preston as head of structured credit research, reporting to ceo and cio Peter Gleysteen and coo Wynne Comer. Preston was previously the head of ABS and CLO research at Wells Fargo, having joined Wachovia Securities in 2005. Prior to 2005, he worked at Raymond James and from 1996-2001 served in the US Army, rising to the rank of Captain.

Bob Sherman has joined Marble Point Credit Management as global director of strategic development, a newly created position. In this role, his mandate will be to expand Marble Point’s existing US$6bn loan investment platform by defining, developing and distributing additional investment products and solutions to the institutional investment community. Sherman brings to Marble Point significant experience in below-investment grade credit markets, having held senior level positions at three investment firms also focused on the asset class. Most recently, he was coo at Shenkman Capital and before that served as head of consultant relations at GoldenTree Asset Management and ceo of Seix Advisors.

SFR JV launched
Canadian pension investment manager Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Pretium have launched a joint venture that will initially invest US$700m in single-family rental (SFR) properties across major markets in the southeastern and southwestern US. The venture represents the first partnership between the two firms, in a sector that has presented highly attractive opportunities for large operators with significant existing exposure. Pretium is currently the second-largest owner and operator of SFR properties in the US.