Sector developments and company hires

Swedish auto lease ABS debuts
Volkswagen Financial Services has closed its inaugural Swedish auto lease ABS. Dubbed VCL Master Sweden Compartment 1, the Skr9.1bn transaction is backed by a diversified pool of receivables representing over 40,000 leasing contracts extended to corporates and individuals in Sweden by Volkswagen Finans Sverige (VFS).

In a private placement, the Aaa/AAA/AAA rated (Moody’s/ DBRS Morningstar/Scope) Skr6.56bn class A notes priced at one-month Stibor plus 100bp and the Aa3/AA(l)/AA- rated Skr910m class B notes at plus 160bp.

The majority of the underlying contracts are operating leases (accounting for 61.2% of the portfolio), with the remainder being financial leases. The portfolio is granular: the top one, 10 and 100 lessees represent 0.11%, 0.56% and 2.58% of the portfolio respectively. The largest industry concentration – construction - accounts for 11.50%, according to Scope.

The deal features a 12-month revolving period.

In other news…

Alantra reorg to drive global growth
Alantra has reorganised its investment banking division in a bid to accelerate its global growth ambitions. Miguel Hernández has been appointed ceo of the group, based in London, with Andy Currie and Franck Portais named co-chairs.

Hernández has been with the firm since 2000 and has an extensive track record in cross-border and Spanish M&A deals, both on the buy- and sell-side. Based in London and Paris respectively, Currie is managing partner of Alantra’s UK investment banking division, while Portais is ceo of Alantra France.

Meanwhile, Jan Caspar Hoffmann has joined Alantra as the new ceo and managing partner of Alantra Germany. He has 25 years of investment banking experience, having worked in leading positions at Merrill Lynch, Société Générale and Moelis & Company in Frankfurt and London.

Additionally, Philipp Krohn has been promoted to ceo of Alantra USA, having been with the firm since 2010, most recently as partner and head of corporate development. He will be based in Boston and New York.

Finally, Javier García-Palencia has been promoted to ceo of Alantra Investment Banking Spain. He has been with the firm since 2015 and was previously head of debt.

CIRT pair closed
Fannie Mae has executed two CIRT reinsurance deals on US$31.8bn of single-family loans, the GSE has revealed. The transactions, designated CIRT 2023-2 and CIRT 2023-3, transferred a total of US$926m of mortgage risk to the reinsurance market.

These two deals underline the continuing importance of reinsurance transactions, which now account for about half the credit risk transfer executed by Fannie. It has sold two CAS deals so far in 2023, with a face value of a little over US$1.4bn, while it has executed three CIRT deals to a value of just over US$1.3bn on over US$40bn of single-family loans.

With CIRT 2023-2, Fannie Mae will retain risk for the first 95bp of loss on the US$13.8bn covered loan pool. If the US$131m retention layer is exhausted, 19 reinsurers will cover the next 365bp of loss on the pool.

In CIRT 2023-3, the GSE will retain risk for the first 100bp of loss on the US$18bn covered loan pool. If the US$179.8m retention layer is exhausted, 18 reinsurers will cover the next 235bp of loss on the pool.

DECO 2019-RAM tender launched
Cale Street Investments has launched a tender offer for up to £50m of outstanding class A and class B notes issued by the DECO 2019-RAM CMBS. The sponsor says the purpose of the offer is to provide liquidity to noteholders, with the purchased notes to be held by the offeror without any entitlement to exercise voting rights at noteholder meetings.

The purchase price of the class A and B notes is respectively 92.50% and 84% of the factored nominal amount of the outstanding notes. The offer is due to expire today (27 March), with settlement expected on 30 March.

NPC debuts interval fund
Nomura Private Capital (NPC) has launched its first investment product, the Nomura Alternative Income Fund (NAIFX), marking a significant milestone in Nomura’s global push into private markets. To underline its commitment, Nomura has provided an initial US$100m to seed the fund, a closed-end interval fund that provides diversified exposure to private and public credit sectors.

NAIFX will invest a majority of assets both directly and indirectly through investment vehicles across global credit markets. The investment team, led by NPC cio Matthew Pallai, will constantly assess market opportunities and employ a flexible allocation strategy to help maximise risk-adjusted returns and current income. The team intends to make relative value decisions on a wide range of private credit exposures, including direct lending, real estate lending, specialty finance and asset-based lending.

The launch of NAIFX is the first of several products that NPC plans to bring to market over the coming years.

Specialist lender acquired
Shawbrook has acquired specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages (BML) in a cash and share deal. With both Bluestone Mortgages and The Mortgage Lender brands, powered by Shawbrook’s capital base and presence in the deposits market, the combined group is well placed to meet growing demand for specialist mortgages.

BML has originated over £1.8bn since it launched in 2014 and currently manages a book of over £1.3bn residential loans. The growth of the business has been supported by an experienced team, which today stands at around 90 employees based in offices across London and Sheffield.

Shawbrook has been working with BML since 2017 through a platform lending arrangement. The acquisition is expected to provide BML greater stability in funding to continue powering its growth trajectory. The two organisations also share an approach to providing specialist finance at scale, which “combines technology and data with the expertise and judgement of their people”.

The move follows the acquisition of Kensington Mortgages by Barclays, which was completed at the beginning of March.