Sector developments and company hires

SPG spin-out rebranded as ATLAS
Apollo and Credit Suisse have completed a substantial first close of their previously announced transaction, under which affiliates of the former purchased a significant portion of the latter’s securitised products group (SCI 28 October 2022). A majority of the assets and professionals associated with the transaction are now part of or managed by the rebranded ATLAS SP Partners, a new standalone credit firm focused on asset-backed financing and capital markets solutions.

ATLAS SP Partners is a high-growth franchise helping specialty finance companies, financial sponsors, corporates, REITs and a variety of other clients access structured financing and portfolio solutions. The company is led by ceo Jay Kim, previously md and head of securitised products at Credit Suisse, and includes a team of more than 200 professionals.

Apollo, through its affiliates, is the majority shareholder of ATLAS SP Partners and serves as a long-term capital partner to the company, alongside additional third-party capital partners. Forming a diverse and robust capital base is designed to enable ATLAS SP Partners to offer clients an enhanced suite of products and capabilities.

The company serves clients throughout the growth lifecycle from early stage to mature public companies, providing asset-backed warehouse financing, forward flow and asset purchases, and capital markets and distribution services. Its expertise spans a wide range of asset classes within residential and commercial real estate, and corporate and consumer debt.

ATLAS SP Partners primarily originates high-quality, investment-grade assets that are attractive to a broad range of investors and align with the balance sheet needs of Athene (SCI 9 March 2021) and other retirement services companies, which are estimated to hold approximately 95% of their assets in high grade credit instruments.

Certain additional assets and international employees are expected to transition from Credit Suisse to the new company throughout 1H23.

In other news…

EMEA
Pemberton has appointed Pavol Popp as a portfolio manager for its NAV financing strategy. Popp will work with the newly established NAV team to develop its ability to service the needs of the market, as it works to provide flexible capital solutions for Pemberton’s management companies. He joins Pemberton from JPMorgan, where he served in multiple leadership roles, including global co-head of financing solutions and head of EMEA structuring.

LDI proxy contest quashed
Anthony Hsieh has stepped down as executive chairman of loanDepot (LDI), pursuant to a mutual agreement unanimously approved by the firm's board. This action was in light of Hsieh's decision to run a proxy contest against LDI through his nomination of a director candidate outside of the governance process overseen by the board's nominating and corporate governance committee. He will continue to serve as chairman of the board, however.

Hsieh has submitted his nomination of a director candidate, Steven Ozonian. At Hsieh's request, the board's nominating and corporate governance committee has interviewed Ozonian as part of its ongoing process for evaluating potential nominees for election at the firm's 2023 annual meeting. Prior to the completion of the evaluation process, Hsieh informed the board of his intention to use his voting power to replace sitting independent director Pamela Hughes Patenaude with Ozonian.

Patenaude, who has served as a director since 2021, is a real estate and housing policy expert with a four-decade record of success as an executive in government, the non-profit sector and private industry. She is a principal at Granite Housing Strategies and previously served as Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and before that as director of housing policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center.

North America
TMI is expanding its capital markets services business with the hire of new md, Jason Bross. Bringing more than 25 years of capital markets, alternative finance and asset management experience to the firm, Bross will cover business development and relationship management within the capital markets sector in his new role. TMI aims to leverage Bross’ experience in providing finance solutions to build out its loan agency and capital management services as it strives towards expanding back-up servicing. Bross joins the firm from Lattitude20 Capital Partners, where he was the co-founder and cio.