Sector developments and company hires

DSW CMBS exposure gauged
KBRA Credit Profile (KCP) has published a special report on CMBS exposure to footwear retailer Designer Brands, owner of the Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) store chain. The company reported EBITDA of negative US$316m in its fiscal year 2020, as sales plummeted in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company returned to profitability in 1Q21 after adjusting its operational focus, but faces continued operational headwinds amid uncertainty stemming from new virus strains.

KCP identified 126 properties collateralising 115 loans – representing US$9.54bn by allocated loan amount - across 137 CMBS with exposure to a DSW retail location. The company expects to close 65 domestic locations over the next four years as leases expire, which is KCP says is cause for concern as 50 CMBS properties (US$2.98bn) have exposure to a DSW lease scheduled to expire through 2025.

EMEA
Adam Green has joined Goldman Sachs as executive director, CLO structuring, based in London. He was previously a vp at NatWest, involved in primary CLO structuring and credit portfolio financing. Before that, Green worked in both New York and London for JPMorgan, which he joined in 2013.

Latham & Watkins has recruited Alex Martin as a partner in the firm’s London structured finance practice. His practice focuses on advising investment funds, financial institutions and asset managers on a variety of complex structured finance transactions and structured products, with particular focus on CLOs and performing and non-performing debt portfolio acquisitions. Martin joins the firm from Weil Gotshal.

SitusAMC has hired Alfonso Pagano as director, responsible for leading the firm’s expansion of its servicing business in Europe to include corporate direct debt, infrastructure and social housing loans. He will report to Lisa Williams, executive md and head of Europe at SitusAMC.

Pagano brings more than 15 years of experience in servicing debt, including leadership roles at BNP Paribas Securities Services, The Bank of New York Mellon and ABN AMRO. Most recently, he worked as a commercial director in the capital markets services team at TMF Group.

North America
Nathaniel Luker has joined Ocorian as a partner in its Cayman Islands legal arm, Ocorian Law (Cayman). He advises on capital markets (including securitisations), private equity, corporate and finance transactions and will head up the unit’s capital markets and investment funds practices.

Luker previously worked in the Cayman Islands office of Mourant, where he was counsel in the finance, corporate and funds team. Before moving offshore, he worked in the corporate teams of Freshfields in London and Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy in Moscow.