Sector developments and company hires

Small balance UK CMBS prepped
Together Commercial Financial Services is marketing an unusual securitisation backed by small balance commercial assets. Dubbed Together Asset Backed Securitisation 2021-CRE1 (TABS 2021-CRE1), the £328.8m transaction is backed by 1,482 loans provided to 1,399 borrowers.

The average outstanding principal balance per borrower is £235,020 and approximately 41.9% of the underlying properties are either fully or partially borrower-occupied, with 49% of the loans provided to self-employed borrowers. The portfolio comprises first- and second-lien mortgage loans, secured by commercial, mixed-use and residential properties located in the UK. Loans with a prior County Court Judgement comprise 9.6% of the pool and no loans are three months or more in arrears.

According to DBRS Morningstar, the mortgages have a weighted-average seasoning of 21.2 months. The weighted-average current loan-to-value (CLTV) ratio of the portfolio is 57%, with 1.8% of loans exceeding 75% CLTV.

The issuer is expected to issue five rated tranches of CMBS - class A to class E notes - to finance the purchase of the initial portfolio.

In other news…

Denizbank’s DPR return
The EBRD is providing US$100m in new funds to Denizbank to finance Turkish companies’ investments in green technologies and support women-led businesses. The financing is made available through an investment under its existing diversified payment rights (DPR) programme.

Denizbank is planning to issue a total of US$435m, marking its return to DPR securitisation under the Emirates NBD Bank’s ownership. The issuance has attracted a number of investors, including the IFC, Credit Suisse and Emirates NBD Bank.

The EBRD funds for Denizbank will be equally split between the Women in Business programme to finance women-led SMEs and the Turkey Sustainable Energy Finance Facility programme in support of resource efficiency and small-scale renewable energy investments. The EU is supporting both initiatives with grant funding, while women-led businesses will also benefit from risk-sharing through the Turkish Credit Guarantee Fund and Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance.

Private credit JV agreed
American Equity Investment Life Holding Company and Adams Street Partners are forming a joint venture for co-developing insurer capital-efficient products in middle market credit, with American Equity initially committing up to US$2bn to the investment strategy. Under the terms of the agreement, American Equity and Adams Street will form a new management company that intends to sponsor and manage investment vehicles established primarily to invest in secured loans to US middle market private companies backed by private equity sponsors. The partnership is intended to be operational in 1H21.