Sector developments and company hires

A landmark US$125m securitisation of intellectual property has been completed by the Simon Cowell-founded company, Syco Entertainment. The intellectual property is the Got Talent Franchise, including the America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent formats commissioned in 72 territories across the globe. The complex transaction marks the first instance of leveraging royalty income streams for the securitisation of the intellectual property of media formats, a structure more commonly applied to royalty income streams in the music industry. The transaction will allow for further company growth, with reported intentions of further acquisitions and growth projects. Syco’s securitisation has been dubbed as the first of its kind for its securitisation of different aspects of the Got Talent intellectual property – including product margins and fees, digital income, franchise and original content sales, as well as sponsorship income. Syco was advised in the transaction by London-based international law firm Memery Crystal as legal counsel, with the media and entertainment investment bank, ACF, acting as the lead bank, advising Syco both in the UK and the US.

In other news…..

EMEA

AlbaCore Capital Group has appointed Seán Golden to lead the European credit specialists’ expansion into structured credit. As of December, Golden will lead the development of Albacore's investment capabilities in structured credit as md and deputy portfolio manager. Golden joins the firm from Alcentra, where he spent a decade of his structured credit career, most recently serving as executive director of structured credit. The firm hopes Golden’s expertise in structured products will allow Albacore to unlock the potential being witnessed in European CLO liabilities and elsewhere.

Alvarez & Marsal has appointed Vic Pichon as a director in its structured credit and portfolio advisory team in London. Previously, he was director - capital markets at LendInvest and before that worked at Prodigy Finance, S&P, Dexia, BPCE, Moody’s and Natixis.

North America

Ambac Financial Group has announced the settlement of its RMBS litigations against Bank of America. The firm confirmed today that its subsidiary, Ambac Assurance Corporation (AAC), had entered into an agreement to settle all of its claims against BofA and related entities for US$1.84bn. Ambac estimates it will gain with respect to the settlement approximately US$390m, as the sum exceeds the amount of subrogation recovery recorded on its 2Q22 financial statements. Some of this gain will appear in Ambac’s Q3 financial results, with the remaining portion set to be recognised in Q4 financial results. In addition to this, AAC will repay all outstanding Stika Notes of around US$1.21bn and a further US$213m of Tier 2 notes, with funds expected to be received within 10 days following the satisfaction of certain conditions – including the dismissal of all pending RMBS litigations. Ambac recorded a gross subrogation on its balance sheet of US$1.48bn for the period ending 30 June 2022 relating to RMBS representation and warranty litigation, of which US$1.38bn related to BofA litigation, and the balance relating to AAC’s case against Nomura Credit & Capital and Nomura Holding America. Ambac hopes the settlement will materially advance its strategic priority to progress its subsidiary, AAC, as well as building optionality for its legacy financial guaranty business.

BMO has named Bilal Nasir md and head of CLO trading, based in New York. He was previously director, head of US CLO trading at Deutsche Bank. Before that, Nasir worked at BNP Paribas, Barclays and Lehman Brothers.

CIFC has hired T. Michael Johnson as md and global co-head of business development in a bid to improve the firm’s relationships with existing and prospective clients. In his new role, Johnson will lead CIFC’s multi-strategy credit platform alongside the firm’s existing global co-heads of business development, James Boothby and Joshua Hughes. Johnson brings 20 years of alternative investment sales experience, joining CIFC from Carlyle Global Credit where he most recently served as md and head of investor relations.