People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s bumper roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Deutsche Bank Investment Bank appoint two new co-heads on its EMEA capital markets team. Elsewhere, a Virgin Money veteran has retired after 15 years with the bank, while there have been a flurry of senior hires in the US commercial real estate finance space. 

Deutsche Bank Investment Bank has promoted two company veterans to lead its capital markets practice for the EMEA region. The move comes as the bank aims to expand its origination and advisory capabilities following recent growth in its debt capital markets activity.

Hoby Buvat and Mark Lewellen will serve as co-heads for its equity capital markets, debt capital markets, leveraged debt capital markets and strategic equity transactions groups. The pair, who were formerly leveraged debt capital markets md and head of DCM origination respectively, will continue to operate from the bank’s London office in their new roles.

The appointments come shortly after Deutsche Bank’s outgoing president Karl von Rohr handed over responsibilities to his successors. At the start of July, Claudio de Sanctis took over responsibility for Deutsche Bank’s private bank; Alexander von zur Mühlen began overseeing the EMEA — excluding UK and Ireland — and APAC regions; and cfo James von Moltke was given additional responsibilities for asset management. The process to select von Rohr ‘s successor as chair of the DWS supervisory board is ongoing.

Meanwhile, industry veteran Neill Keveren has stepped down from his position as senior director at Virgin Money and retired from banking after 15 years with the bank. Most recently a London-based senior director on the strategic finance team, he spent seven years as a relationship director on the corporate and structured finance team at Clydesdale ahead of its acquisition by Virgin. Prior to Clydesdale, he had a long stint at Barclays Bank.

Santander Corporate and Investment Banking has hired BNP Paribas’ Dmitrij Levitski as a director in its securitised products group, based in its London office. Levitski leaves his position as director in BNP Paribas’ securitised products group after two years with the bank. He previously spent 11 years at Lloyds Banking Group.

Michael Weinberger has joined Gibson Dunn as a partner within its real estate practice in New York to focus primarily on CMBS transactions. Weinberger brings extensive lender-side real estate experience to Gibson Dunn, where he will continue his CMBS practice having spent more than 30-years at Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton.

SMBC has created a new sustainability unit within its international and structured finance department for the EMEA region. The new sustainable finance unit will be led by former md and head of power and renewables, Caroline Lytton, who has been with the bank since 2007. Lytton will also operate as coordinator for SMBC’s ESG advisory and solutions hub.

Austin-headquartered commercial real estate financing firm Petros PACE Finance has hired Morgan Stanley’s Kevin Porter as chief credit officer. An industry veteran, Porter leaves his position as executive director on the commercial real estate lending team at Morgan Stanley after six years with the bank. He also previously held real-estate-focused director roles at Merrill Lynch and S&P Global.

Greystone, also a commercial real estate finance firm, has hired Lument’s John Sloot as managing director in its Dallas office. Sloot will report to senior vice president of agency production Vince Mejia and focus on multifamily debt products spanning the entirety of Greystone’s financing platforms. He leaves his role as director in the multifamily originations team at Lument after 10 years with the firm.

Elsewhere in the US commercial real estate space, manager Newmark has hired institutional debt and equity capital-raising specialist Bill Fishel as executive vice chairman in its debt, equity and structured finance group. Fishel joins the firm’s Los Angeles office and will report to North American capital markets president Chad Lavender. He will work with the US capital markets and west coast debt team to support expansion of its capital markets business. Fishel leaves his role as senior md and co-head of debt and structured finance at JLL Capital Markets after four years with the firm.

Dentons has hired a trio of senior lawyers from Perkins Coie as partners on its hotels and leisure practice. Adam Docks, Lindsay Jewell and Jordan McCarthy leave their roles as partners at Perkins Coie after 17 years, 11 years and 12 years respectively. Docks and Jewell have experience across a variety of asset classes and transaction types including CMBS. McCarthy primarily works with hotel clients on acquisitions, dispositions, hotel finance, REIT structuring, joint ventures, franchise and hotel management agreements.

EDF Renewables North America has promoted Henry Hays to senior analyst in its structured finance team. Hays joined EDF from Goldman Sachs in May 2022, leaving his role as analyst in its renewable power group team.

Sydney-headquartered Commonwealth Bank has promoted Sam McFarlane to senior manager on its securitisation and ESG risk teams. McFarlane is based in the bank’s Melbourne office and transitions from his role as senior manager in the fund finance and ESG for non-bank financial intermediation teams. He joined Commonwealth Bank in 2007.

CBRE has added another new recruit to its structured finance practice with the hire of former commercial lending vp, Kellen Dick. He joins the firm’s office in Denver, Colorado as a vp on its growing capital markets, debt and structured finance team.

Fiduciary services and fund administration specialist Ocorian has appointed former BNY Mellon executive Christoph Schwarz as director of business development, working out of its London office. Schwarz leaves his role as principal in the business development team at BNY Mellon’s corporate trust division after five years with the firm. He was previously managing director at StormHarbour Securities.

BTIG Investment Banking has expanded its debt capital advisory team in New York with the hire of new md Thomas Roh. He will concentrate on asset securitisation and speciality finance in his new role and brings more than 25 years of fixed income investment banking experience. Roh has previously held positions at Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan Securities, and joins the firm from Odeon Capital Management’s advisory team where he led its consumer and commercial finance coverage.

And finally, Tikehau Capital has expanded into the Middle East with the opening of its 15th office in the UAE’s financial centre, Abu Dhabi. The opening of its first office in the GCC region is intended to be the first move towards extending the firm's regional presence and capitalising on local opportunities – including in structured finance. As part of the move, former Paris-based executive Gustave Laurent relocated to Abu Dhabi to serve as head of business development for the Middle East.