Sector developments and company hires

Sun King supported via solar ABS
British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution (DFI), and Stanbic Bank Kenya have unveiled commitments to off-grid solar energy company Sun King via a US$130m-equivalent securitisation and a joint US$20m working capital facility. These commitments will enable the purchase of more inventory - such as solar home systems and solar lanterns - and facilitate customer access to new solar products via credit.

The Kenyan Shilling-denominated securitisation provides a capital boost to Kenya’s off-grid solar energy sector and extends access to pay-as-you-go solar home systems and energy-efficient equipment for underserved customers across the country. Approximately half of Sun King’s registered pay-as-you-go customers in Kenya are women, most of whom are accessing formal financing products for the first time.

Sun King is backed by prominent DFIs and commercial lenders, including Absa, BII, FMO, Norfund, the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and Citi. To date, the company has powered the lives of over 100 million people who cannot access, rely on or afford traditional electric grid connections.

The joint commitment contributes to several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals - including affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), social inclusion (SDG 10) and climate action (SDG 13) - and qualifies as part of BII’s contribution to the 2X Challenge.

In other news…

EMEA
Deutsche Bank has appointed Oliver Gehbauer to the newly-created position of head of SRT securitisation within GFCT structuring of the investment bank. In this role, he will coordinate origination and structuring efforts relating to synthetic securitisations, both for external clients and Deutsche Bank’s balance sheet.
Gehbauer joined Deutsche Bank through the graduate programme in 2000 and re-joined the firm in 2019, having worked in securitisation-related roles at Lloyds, Credit Suisse and Citi between times. He will report to Laurence Rickard and Mauricio Suárez-Rodríguez.

International law firm Keystone has promoted Marc Wilkinson to partner, just four months after hiring him as senior associate for banking, capital markets, derivatives and structured finance. Wilkinson has also been promoted to director of legal services at affiliated professional services firm Truva Corp, which counts a number of Keystone lawyers on its team. Based in London and Milan, he joined Keystone and Truva in January, leaving his role as senior associate on the structured finance and debt capital markets team at Mayson Hayes & Curran.

Pemberton has recruited Niamh Whooley as md and head of sustainable investing. Whooley will work across all areas of the business to deliver on Pemberton’s ESG commitments, further develop its sustainable investments, lead the dialogue with key stakeholders and work in partnership with clients globally as the firm’s strategy continues to expand.
In this new role, she will report to Harriet Steel, partner and global head of clients at Pemberton. Whooley has over 15 years of experience and leadership in sustainable investing, having held senior roles at Goldman Sachs, PIMCO, Société Générale and Fidelity International. Most recently, she was global head of fixed income ESG research at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Santander has appointed Vanessa Lowe, previously of sustainable engineering group Arup, as an energy transition-focused vp on its structured finance team. Lowe will be based in London and leaves her role as senior consultant at Arup after around four years with the firm. She previously spent three years working as an energy and resources process engineer at Aurecon in Wellington.

SCIO Capital has appointed Luxembourg-based Pascal Martis to its advisory board, which advises the firm’s senior management on strategy, market trends, business development and governance. The move follows the launch last month of SCIO’s most recent closed-ended fund offering, SCIO European Secured Credit Fund IV.
Martis is ceo of WGR Invest and cio of DeRaekt. Prior to these two roles, he built a track record advising Benelux HNWIs on investments at Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO and Van Lanschot Bankiers.
Martis joins SCIO’s founding advisory board members: Carole Sanz-Paris, head of DCM and structured finance at IDB Invest; Ganesh Rajendra, managing partner at Integer Advisors; and Oliver Wriedt, director at HighKey Catalyst.