Sector developments and company hires

Equitable Holdings has announced the acquisition of CarVal Investors by its subsidiary, AllianceBernstein. The agreement to acquire the global private alternative investment manager with US$14.3bn in AUM falls in line with Equitable Holdings’ strategy to further its differentiated business model and increase returns. CarVal focuses on opportunistic and distressed credit, as well as renewable energy infrastructure, speciality finance, and transportation investments. US$750m of general account assets will be allocated into CarVal strategies from Equitable Holdings, and upon completion the transaction will increase AllianceBernstein’s private markets platform to almost US$50bn in AUM. The deal structure will not impact on Equitable’s capital position, and the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

In other news….

North America

Mitsubishi UFJ has recruited a new md and head of US esoteric ABS, Yezdan Badrakhan, as the firm broadens its securitised products business. Badrakhan will report to international head of securitised products, Tricia Hazelwood, and will be stationed in its New York office. He joins the firm from Morgan Stanley, where he launched the firm’s structured products capital markets’ transportation business, and has over a decade of experience focusing on esoteric asset classes. In the new role, Badrakhan will work to continue the expansion of MUFG’s esoteric ABS business, diversify the firm’s reach to new asset classes, while developing its ABS underwriting platform.