Sector developments and company hires

M&G is set to acquire a majority stake in impact investor responsAbility Investments. Headquartered in Zurich, responsAbility has invested more than US$11bn in private assets across emerging markets since it was founded in 2003 and currently has approximately US$3.7bn of assets under management (as at year-end 2021).

The acquisition is in line with M&G’s strategy to grow its sustainable investment capabilities and become a leader in impact investing. It also expands the firm’s international presence and private asset origination capabilities.

M&G has agreed to acquire approximately 90% of the issued share capital of responsAbility and expects to acquire the remaining 10% in due course. responsAbility’s 200 employees will join M&G on completion of the deal and the business will continue under the day-to-day management of its existing team, led by ceo Rochus Mommartz.

The business will remain headquartered in Zurich and continue to serve its clients and portfolio companies across more than 70 emerging markets from its eight offices.

In other news…

EMEA

AllianzGI has announced the launch of its new private markets and impact unit as a part of its new sustainable investment platform. The new unit and its team of 12 will be led by global head of sustainable and impact investing at AllianzGI, Matt Christensen, who has also been appointed to the board of the GRESB foundation. Christensen will be joined by two lead portfolio managers, Martin Ewald, who leads the private equity impact investing team, and Nadia Nikolova, who manages the development finance and private debt impact investing team. The firm also announced the creation of an additional impact measurement and management team, which will be led by Diane Mak who joined AllianzGI from Y Analytics last year. Utilising expertise from across the company, AllianzGI will also launch an impact framework alongside this work to enhance due diligence and investment selection.

Ares has added three new senior professionals to its team as it strives to expand its real estate debt business across Europe. The team concentrates on originating and managing CRE loans, and joining it will be Philip Moore, Alessandro Luca, and Anisa Dudhia. Moore will serve as partner and head of the team and joins the team from the Carlyle Group’s credit opportunities fund, where he led on real estate investment ACTIVITIES across Europe and north America as md. Luca joins the firm from Goldman Sachs’ real estate finance team and will work as a principal. Finally, Dudhia will join the team as a vp and counsel as part of the Ares legal team, having previously been a member of Clifford Chance’s real estate finance team.

North America

ESMA has launched a public consultation on a targeted revision to its guidelines and recommendations on the scope of the credit rating agency regulation. ESMA is seeking input from stakeholders on its proposals to revise paragraphs 14 and 15 of the existing ESMA Guidelines.

The proposed revision is intended to provide greater clarity on the exemptions for private ratings under the CRA Regulation, and addresses: the interpretation of the terms “produced pursuant to an individual order” and “provided exclusively to the person who placed the order”; restrictions on sharing a private credit rating with a “limited number of third parties”; and how to monitor the distribution of private credit ratings by the ratings producer. The aim is to assist ESMA in its perimeter activities and define the activities of private credit rating providers that ESMA considers fall outside of the scope of the CRA Regulation.

The closing date for responses is 11 March and ESMA expects to publish a final report by the end of 2Q22.

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) has appointed four new members to its board – including two US CLO specialists Wynne Comer and Rachel Russell. Wynne Comer, who has worked as AGL Credit Management’s coo since 2019, will serve a two-year term on the board effective immediately. Additionally, Morgan Stanley’s head of CLO Syndicate - Rachel Russell – will also spend two-years as a member of the board.

Willkie Farr and Gallagher will continue the expansion of its global insurance practice with the hire of new partner, David Luce. Joining the firm’s insurance transactional and regulatory practice in New York, Luce is the latest hire to the firm’s global reinsurance practice having welcomed two new partners earlier this month to its London office. With over two decades of experience in insurance related transactions, regulation, and litigation, Luce will join the firm from DLA Piper where he also served as partner.