Sector developments and company hires

Rare agricultural MBS prints
The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) – a federally chartered corporation that provides a secondary market for a variety of loans made to borrowers in rural America, with the aim of increasing the availability and affordability of credit - has completed a US$302.7m securitisation of agricultural mortgage loans. The FARM Series 2021-1 agricultural MBS is backed by 384 agricultural mortgage loans underwritten to Farmer Mac's standards and acquired by the corporation between July 2019 and December 2020.

This inaugural deal included a US$280m senior tranche guaranteed by Farmer Mac and a US$22.7m unguaranteed subordinate tranche. Credit Suisse acted as the sole structuring agent and bookrunner, along with CastleOak Securities as a selling group member.

In other news…

Global
Pretium has established its first Middle East office in Dubai. The firm has also strengthened its US affordable housing and real estate teams.

Jamal Saab has joined Pretium as md to lead and expand its presence in the Middle East region. He has over 20 years of experience serving investors in the region, having most recently been md and head of Middle East at PineBridge Investments.

Meanwhile, Pretium has recruited Tatiana Gutierrez and Jeannette Arazi as mds in its affordable housing and real estate capital markets teams respectively. These appointments follow the firm’s US$1bn build-to-rent investment in partnership with Crescent Communities.

Based in New York, Gutierrez will be integral to advancing Pretium’s social impact goals, including instituting an array of supportive services for residents of all price points and adding to and preserving low-income rental housing stock. As a real estate attorney at Nixon Peabody for more than 15 years – including the past eight years as a partner – she represented a wide range of for-profit and non-profit developers, syndicators, asset managers, housing authorities and tenant organisations on affordable housing transactions and regulatory issues across the US.

Based in Chicago, Arazi joins Pretium from Sidley Austin, where she worked for the past 22 years, including the last 14 as a partner. Arazi will focus on structuring and executing transactions and strategic financial initiatives across Pretium’s residential real estate platform and portfolios.

Personal finance provider refis
118 118 Money has completed a significant refinancing that included two private securitisations and one corporate asset-backed facility, providing total funding of up to £580m. All three facilities will support the continued growth of the firm as part of its strategy to improve financing options for underbanked near-prime consumers.

The new facilities include a consumer loan facility and a credit card facility, which are supported by the investment banking arm of a UK bank, as well as funds managed by Castlelake and Pollen Street Capital. EY served as sole financial advisor to 118 118 Money.