People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Newmark hiring an experienced executive as md on its UK and EMEA debt and structured finance team. Elsewhere, i80 Group has hired a former Wells Fargo ABF and securitisation director, while law firm Cappelli RCCD has promoted a securitisation and structured finance specialist to partner.

Debt advisory veteran Steve Williamson has joined Newmark’s London office as md on its debt and structured finance UK and EMEA capital markets team. The team has also appointed Matthew Kang as a London-based associate. 

The pair will work alongside Newmark UK president Michael Lehrman and Matthew Featherstone, head of debt and structured finance in the UK and Europe. They will also work with Charlie Foster, who is head of real estate investment banking for the UK and Europe at Newmark affiliate Cantor Fitzgerald.

Williamson was previously chair of debt and structured finance at CBRE, where he spent 13 years and led debt origination for the UK and EMEA. Prior to that he was head of UK debt origination for Deutsche Bank.

Kang leaves his position as associate director on the debt and structured finance team at CBRE after three years with the firm. He previously worked at KB Kookmin Bank.

Meanwhile, Jomart Tleujan, vp and head of debt capital markets at Grover, has left the firm to take up the role of director at i80 Group. The appointment is part of the US asset-based loan provider’s plans to triple the size of its London team as it looks to increase its activity in Europe. Tleujan leaves Grover after just under a year with the business, having previously spent two years at Fluro and eight years at Wells Fargo.

Italian law firm Cappelli RCCD has promoted London-based counsel Sofia De Cristofaro to partner. De Cristofaro focuses on banking and financial law, with particular expertise in structured finance, securitisation and asset acquisition. She joined the firm – then known as Studio Legale RCCD – in 2016, having previously worked at Paul Hastings, Ashurst and Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Travers Smith has hired a new structured finance specialist to its finance team. Ryan Ayrton joins the firm as an infrastructure debt partner in London, having previously held the same role at Watson Farley & Williams since 2022. Ayrton’s practice focuses on advising a range of structured finance transactions, particularly infrastructure financings and related M&A, as well as advising sponsors and funders.

Former TIAA Bank vice president and account executive Vicki Huynh has joined CBRE as senior vice president in its debt and structured finance division, based in its Seattle office. Huynh – who will work alongside Josh Berde – specialises in underwriting and structuring mortgage transactions for multifamily and commercial real estate. She left TIAA in March after six years with the business and previously worked at EverBank and GE Capital Real Estate.

BTIG has hired Seaport Global Holdings’ Flavio Paparella as md in its global emerging markets fixed income group, based in New York. The team, which also has offices in Singapore, London and Miami – focuses on Asia, Latin America and the central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. It works alongside clients who trade sovereign, corporate and structured credit. Paparella leaves his role as md at Seaport after eight years with the firm, during which he developed the fixed income business in Latin America. He previously worked at RBC Capital Markets, American Express and Deutsche Bank.

And finally, Investcorp subsidiary and advisory firm Mercury Capital Advisory has hired Jeff Davis as a partner based in its New York office, focusing on North American private equity and private credit origination, client relationships, and project management. Davis leaves his role as partner and head of private credit at FirstPoint Equity after three years with the firm, having previously spent 16 years at Eaton Partners. Mercury’s credit division focuses on CLOs, broadly syndicated loans, structured credit, and mid-market direct lending.

Kenny Wastell, Claudia Lewis