Sector developments and company hires

Irish RPL refi prepped
A refinancing of two Irish reperforming RMBS - European Residential Loan Securitisation 2019-PL1 and Grand Canal Securities 1 - has hit the market. Dubbed Primrose Residential 2021-1, the transaction is backed by a €869.8m portfolio of seasoned first lien performing and reperforming mortgages secured by majority owner occupied (accounting for 57.6% of the pool) and buy-to-let properties located in Ireland.

The portfolio comprises 5,820 mortgage loans originated by three Irish originators: Permanent TSB (72.5%), Irish Nationwide Building Society (15%) and Springboard Mortgages (12.5%). The mortgages that collateralised ERLS 2019-PL1 aggregate to €630.8m (72.5%), with GCS1 assets making up the remainder of the portfolio.

The average balance of the loans is €149,451 and the pool has a weighted average seasoning of 165.3 months and a weighted average current LTV of 61%, according to KBRA. There is geographical concentration in Dublin, which accounts for 34.1% of the pool’s regional exposure, but the top 10 regional exposures account for 76%.

Restructured loans make up 54.7% of the portfolio (14.3% are split loans), with the majority of the restructurings undertaken between 2014 and 2019. Over the past 18 months, 44.5% of the restructured loans showed a clean payments history.

The portfolio includes 923 loans (18.6%) that have been subject to Covid-19 payment deferrals, although only six loans continue to be under an active payment holiday. The remainder have resumed scheduled monthly payments.

The loans will continue to be serviced by Start Mortgage (72.5%) and Mars Capital Finance Ireland (27.5%). The ERLS 2019-PL1 portfolio serviced by the former showed a cumulative loss of 0.27%, as of March 2021, while the GCS1 portfolio serviced by the latter has reported less than 0.1% of cumulative losses as of February. KBRA notes that the weighted average pay rate for the combined portfolios is approximately 97%.

In other news…

EMEA
Duff & Phelps has appointed Andy Marsden as md and leader of its EMEA business modelling and analytics team. Based in London, Marsden has more than 16 years of modelling experience and will assist the firm’s clients across all sectors with a variety of requirements, including developing transaction models to support buy- and sell-side deals, as well as applying data analytics as part of transaction diligence and business strategy design. Prior to joining the firm, he spent 20 years with Ernst & Young, where he was an associate partner in the strategy and transactions practice, leading the financial services business modelling team in London.

Fiona Nelson has joined Funding Circle UK as director, capital markets - structuring and execution. She was previously a director in Barclays’ securitised products solutions team and has also worked at Morgan Stanley, Giltspur Capital, Nationwide and Merrill Lynch.

Global
KBRA has made a number of changes to its senior management, reflecting the expansion of its global footprint. Patrick Welch has been named chief ESG and ratings policy officer, leading all aspects of KBRA’s commitment as an ESG-focused firm. He previously served as chief credit officer for the last five years.

Lenny Giltman, senior md, has been named chief credit officer, reporting to Welch. Giltman previously led KBRA’s ratings legal team, where he served for eight years. John Hogan, md located in KBRA’s London office, will assume Giltman’s role as head of ratings legal.

Kate Kennedy’s role as KBRA’s co-head of business development and overseeing its marketing and communication areas has been expanded to include oversight of KBRA Analytics. Steve Kuritz, senior md, has been named head of KBRA Analytics, reporting to Kennedy.

He will be responsible for driving the firm’s efforts in delivering data and analytics to the global financial community. Previously, he led the KBRA Credit Profile (KCP) team, which is responsible for the firm’s CMBS surveillance subscription service.

Finally, Caitlin Colvin becomes head of investor relations, reporting to Kennedy. She has served in an investor relations role for the past two years and previously was a member of the ratings legal team, with a focus on ABS.