Sector developments and company hires

Sustainable Fitch has launched new ESG Ratings for global labelled structured bonds and covered bonds. The news follows its opening of ESG Ratings, Data & Analysis for North American, UK, and European corporates and financial institutions earlier this year. The latest addition will see Sustainable Fitch offering entity ratings, framework ratings, and instrument ratings across covered bonds, as well as framework and instrument ratings for ABS bonds. Sustainable Fitch will give ratings on labelled structured notes across RMBS, CMBS, solar ABS, auto ABS, consumer ABS, as well as utilities ABS. The ESG ratings will be provided on an absolute and entirely cross-comparable rating scale which will include qualitative commentary from ESG analysts. The firm hopes the expansion into ESG ratings will meet rising market demand for the product and offer investors the tools needed to evaluate ESG impact, outcome, and performance.

In other news…

EMEA

Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) has recruited Doris Honold to serve as its new chair as the organisation works to expand across the globe. Honold brings over 25 years of experience to the non-profit dedicated to mobilising global capital for climate action and joins CBI from Standard Chartered where she formerly served as coo. The German, Swiss, and global banking veteran in her role as chair will oversee the board of trustees as it offers operational and strategic oversight over the UK-based NGO.

Pictet Asset Management has hired four new private debt specialists as it works to expand its fixed income range into private debt. The new private debt team will be led by Andreas Klein in London, who joined the firm earlier this year after previously serving as md at ICG where he helped establish and build its direct lending strategy.  Klein will be joined by Axel Cordonnier and Jan Reichenbach as regional heads in the private debt team, and Christian Eckert as a senior investment manager. Cordonnier will serve as head of private debt, France, and will be based in Paris. He joins Pictet AM from Ares Management where he was a principal in its private debt investment team. Reichenbach will similarly serve as head of private debt for the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region, joining the firm from Muzinich where he operated as md and head of DACH and NL private debt. Eckert will join Reichenbach in Frankfurt, supporting him as a senior investment manager with sourcing and executing in the DACH region. Eckert brings his experience to Pictet AM from NIBC Bank where he most recently worked on its leveraged finance team. The new team will build upon the firm’s global infrastructure, with a new direct lending fund focusing on corporate-lending in the lower middle-market bracket launching externally early next year.

Gina Hartnett has joined Schroders Capital’s securitised product and asset-based finance team in the newly-created role of coo. Based in the firm’s London office, she will report to Michelle Russell-Dowe, head of global securitised product and asset-based finance, and be a part of the investment committee. Hartnett was previously the head of distribution - portfolio management within Lloyds’ commercial banking division, responsible for the execution and delivery of a programme of complex structured finance transactions.

South America

NPL Markets has appointed Joaquín Pani as senior advisor to help the firm expand its franchise in Mexico. Pani is the founding partner of Pani Abogados and has over 14 years of experience as a financial lawyer dealing with legal matters related to distressed assets. The move follows NPL Markets’ recent partnership agreement with the IFC that seeks to develop a more efficient marketplace in South America to manage and trade performing, distressed and illiquid loans (SCI 2 August).