People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees a former head of CLOs at Deutsche Bank taking up a director role at HSBC. Elsewhere, CBRE has promoted a London-based executive md to president and coo in its Tokyo office, while SLC Management has appointed two new co-heads for its private fixed income team.

Deutsche Bank’s former head of CLOs, Nikunj Gupta, has joined HSBC as a director in its structuring team in London. Gupta returns to the banking business after a brief stint consulting in the structured credit space at self-founded 4N Capital advisory firm. Gupta has extensive industry experience, holding positions at Merrill Lynch, UBS and GreensLedge before joining Deutsche Bank as head of European CLO new issue in 2015.

Meanwhile, CBRE Japan has promoted Takashi Tsuji to president and coo, working in its Tokyo office, following the elevation of Eiji Sakaguchi to chairperson and ceo. Tsuji is promoted from executive md and head of capital markets Japan. He joined CBRE in 2019 after 28 years with Mitsubishi Corporation.

Across the Pacific, in its Houston office, CBRE has also promoted Michael R Cregan to vice president in its debt and structured finance team. Cregan joined CBRE in 2018 and moves up from the role of senior financial analyst. He previously spent a year as a valuation and advisory services analyst at JLL.

New co-heads for SLC Management’s private fixed income team have been named, following the announcement of Sam Tillinghast’s plans to retire at the end of this year. Tillinghast’s successors, Andrew Kleeman and Elaad Keren, will assume responsibility as co-heads from January 2024. Kleeman, who is SLC PFI’s current head of corporate private placement, will oversee the firm’s corporate credit and infrastructure debt, while Keren, who is currently head of private fixed income portfolio management, will take charge of structured credit and PFI portfolio management.

Brazilian asset manager ASA Investments has hired industry veteran Augusto Banuls to its debt capital markets and structured finance team. Banuls leaves his role as executive director for debt capital markets at Safra after four years with the business. 

In his new role, Banuls will work on origination and development of short and long term financings, as well as tailored solutions for a range of financing scenarios. He previously spent nine years in the structured finance and debt capital markets teams at Bradesco BBI and a cumulative 10 years across two spells in Banco do Brasil’s corporate banking and international debt capital markets teams.

Two capital markets partners with synthetic securitisation expertise have left Linklaters (SCI 5 October), as well as a managing associate. Toby Gray has joined Dentons as a partner in its banking and financial services team in London, bringing with him over 27 years of experience at Linklaters, specialising in repackagings, CLNs and synthetic securitisation. 

Meanwhile, Matthew Monahan is to join Simmons & Simmons in November as structured finance and derivatives partner in its London practice, specialising in OTC derivatives transactions and synthetic securitisation. Monahan leaves his position as a capital-markets-focused partner at Linklaters after 22 years with the firm.

Mikaela Bolin has also left Linklaters to take up the role of legal counsel in the structured finance team at SEB, working out of the Nordic financial services group’s Stockholm office. Bolin leaves her position as managing associate at Linklaters after two and half years with the firm. She undertook a six-month secondment at SEB in 2022 and, prior to joining Linklaters, spent two and a half years at Törngren Magnell & Partners.

Morgan Lewis has appointed Penelope Christophorou from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a partner in its New York office. In her new role, Christophorou will focus on various areas of commercial financing transactions and bankruptcy, including advising on structured financings. She leaves her position as counsel at Cleary Gottlieb after 24 years with the firm.

Austrian financial services group Heinrich & Mortinger has re-appointed Dieter Kanduth as a senior member of its Vienna-based team. Kanduth leaves his role as head of structured finance at healthcare-focused real estate business Vamed after 13 years with the company. Prior to joining Vamed, he spent a year at Heinrich & Mortinger and also had stints at Kommunalkredit Austria and Erste Group Immorent.

William Brewin has left Australian bank NAB to take up the role of associate director on the structured finance team at BP. Brewin joined NAB five and a half years ago from Citi and leaves his role as associate director at the bank. He is based in London.

The US International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) Alexander Evans has joined solar energy developer Pivot Energy as senior counsel for structured finance. Evans will work remotely from Washington DC and leaves his role as deputy general counsel at DFC after 16 years with the organisation.

Andrea Yurie Ishioka Rago has joined Brazilian real estate group Fibra Experts as investor relations and structured finance executive director, based in its São Paulo office. Ishioka Rago left her position as a partner in the debt capital markets team at One Corporate in July, after seven months with the firm. She previously spent five and a half years at Itaú BBA, leaving her role as senior officer and real estate specialist in November last year.

In promotion news, MUFG has elevated Ryuhei Yamauchi to vice president in its structured finance credit office in Tokyo. He moves from the group’s London office, where he most recently held the role of associate and assistant vice president. Yamauchi joined MUFG eight and a half years ago.

Pluto Finance has promoted senior credit team member Bertie Edwards-Hedges to lending manager as part of its plans to bolster its lending team in London. Edwards-Hedges has been with Pluto since 2021, joining the firm from Proseed Capital. In his new role he will offer clients bespoke structured finance solutions, focusing on supporting the development finance needs of SME housebuilders.

NatWest has elevated Thomas Murray to vice president for corporate banking and structured finance, working out of its Manchester office. Murray has been with the bank for eight years and is promoted from the role of associate in the same team.

Munich Re has promoted Florian Huebner to senior risk underwriter in its structured finance team. Huebner is based in Munich and joined the insurance group in 2020, leaving his role as associate director for portfolio management on HypoVereinsbank’s project finance team. He spent eight years at HypoVereinsbank and previously worked at Univativ.

Citi has hired Guanglu Wang, formerly of ING, as assistant vice president focusing on financing and securitisation underwriting in its Hong Kong office. The role is in a newly created first line of defence department within Citi’s institutional clients group. Wang left his position as associate in ING’s global securitisation team in June after three and a half years with the Dutch financial services group in order to return to Hong Kong.

Los Angeles-headquartered commercial real estate advisory firm Way Capital has hired Marc Belsky’s Ryan McShea as a senior director in its structured finance team. McShea leaves Marc Belsky after two and a half years and has previously worked at Kronos Investment Partners, Colliers International, CoStar Group and CBRE.

And finally, Yeldo, the Swiss fintech and real estate investment platform, has hired DWS Group’s Federica Comunello as head of structured finance. Comunello leaves her role as real estate transactions officer at DWS after three years with the business, and was previously vice president at Colony Capital.