People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Angelo Gordon poach a new head for its commercial real estate debt division from Tilden Park Capital Management, alongside a raft of senior promotions in its structured credit team. Elsewhere, law firm Blank Rome has launched a new Dallas office with two senior hires from Alston & Bird partners, while ARC Ratings has named a successor to outgoing chairperson Olivier Beroud. 

Angelo Gordon has appointed Tilden Park’s David Busker as head of commercial real estate debt and made four additional promotions within its structured finance team. The appointments come shortly after the firm held a US$1bn final close for AG Asset Based Credit Fund, surpassing its US$800m target.

Busker leaves Tilden Park after seven years with the business and will work out of Angelo Gordon’s New York office, focusing primarily on the CMBS space. He previously spent nine years at Sorin Capital Management.

The group has also promoted managing directors Marc Lessner and Xavier Dailly, who joined Angelo Gordon in 2012 and 2013 respectively, to co-deputy portfolio managers for its open-ended structured credit fund. Managing director Aaron Ong joined from JPMorgan Chase in 2006 and has been promoted to head of private asset-based credit. Lessner, Dailly and Ong are based in New York.

Angelo Gordon has also elevated another managing director, Sunil Kothari, to head of European ABS. Kothari joined in 2019 and is based in the firm’s London office.

Elsewhere, Blank Rome has hired a team of legal professionals to open its new office in Dallas, representing its second office in Texas and 15th across the US. The team includes two former Alston & Bird partners and structured finance veterans in Mark Harris and Michael Thimmig, who have both been appointed as partner. 

Harris focuses on residential mortgages, consumer receivables and timeshare receivables, as well as auto loans, leases and subscriptions. Thimmig has expertise across structured finance, fintech, mortgage banking and secured lending transactions. His practice centres on structured warehouse credit facilities secured by consumer loans, commercial loans, and merchant cash advances.

Andrew Cunningham has been appointed as the new chair for ARC Ratings, following the completion of outgoing chairperson Olivier Beroud’s five-year term. Cunningham will take up the role after joining the structured finance ratings specialist as an independent non-executive director last year. Prior to this, he served as a member of the executive committee for The Balfour Project. He has experience across the Middle East, Islamic finance and bank credit analysis. 

Citigroup managing director Roger Ashworth has joined Goldman Sachs as managing director on the securitised products research team. Ashworth will work out of Goldman’s New York office and leaves Citi after 10 years with the business.

Moroccan state-owned banking group Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG) has appointed Houda Chafil as director of resources and financing, based in Casablanca. Chafil has been promoted from her role as general director in the group’s securitisation-focused subsidiary Maghreb Titrisation and has spent 15 years with the wider CDG group.

McGuireWoods has hired Kirkland & Ellis’s Nicholas Dancey as partner in its global real estate team, working out of its Atlanta office. Dancey leaves his position as partner in Kirkland & Ellis’s Chicago office after a year and a half with the firm. He previously spent six years as general counsel at Quadrant Real Estate Advisors.

London-based real estate investment manager Topland Group has appointed Credit Suisse’s James Conolly to its structured finance team. Connolly leaves his role as director in Credit Suisse’s  real estate finance team after one year with the bank. He was previously relationship director in the real estate finance team at Secure Trust Bank.

Spanish sustainable infrastructure solutions group Acciona has promoted Jose Arteaga to head of structured finance. After more than 15-years at the firm, Arteaga will relocate to its office in Madrid, having served as Acciona Energy’s financial economic director in Mexico since 2017.

Project finance specialist Fulya Uysal has joined Akbank’s investment banking team as a new project and structured finance manager. Uysal joins from competing Turkish bank İşbank where she had worked as a project finance specialist since 2017.

National Equity Fund (NEF) has bolstered its lending team with the hire of new structured finance vps Mark Migliacci and Brandon McCall from JPMorgan Chase and Enterprise Community Investment respectively. 

Migliacci joins the firm in its Boston office to focus on the preservation of affordable and middle-income housing within its debt and equity originations business. He leaves JPMorgan Chase’s community development banking team after three and a half years with the business. 

McCall joins the NEF structured finance team in Dallas after five and a half years with Enterprise Community Investment, where he most recently served as a senior underwriter.

And finally, DLA Piper has hired Allen & Overy’s Pietro Milanesi as an associate in its structured finance and debt capital markets team. Milanesi is based in Milan. He leaves his position as associate at Allen & Overy after four years with the firm.