Contents

RMBS

Releasing potential?

Equity release mortgages generating interest

Expectations for the return of meaningful equity release mortgage (ERM) securitisation volumes remain high. Life insurance companies could play a significant role in the development of the sector, as both issuers and investors.

Jack Kahan, senior md at KBRA, describes the current environment for new ERM originations as a “perfect storm”. He cites a combination of demographics – specifically an aging population - house price appreciation and the fact that many retirees haven’t saved enough for their pension as the reason why.

The UK, Ireland, Spain and Australia are the jurisdictions likely to see increasing ERM originations, driven by two sources of potential collateral. One source is brand new originations; the other is legacy assets, subject to refinancing and resecuritisation (for instance, the ERF RMBS in the UK and the Emerald deals in Australia), and unsecured pools (such as those held on UKAR and life insurers’ books).

One London-based source confirms: “An increasing number of insurers are now in the process of preparing to securitise - publicly or privately - ERM portfolios to reduce capital requirements ahead of the Solvency 2 December deadline.”

“ERM securitisations allow issuers to transfer economic risk, manage liquidity and stabilise long-dated cashflow variability to improve liability matching,” adds Olivier Toutain, executive director in the structured finance team at Scope Ratings.

At the same time, significant investor interest in ERM securitisations is emerging, in particular from life insurers that are able to hold long-dated bonds. However, such deals are not for everyone.

One insurer says that from his firm’s perspective: “It’s not something we are interested in – the underlying risks are very different to those in our RMBS portfolio. At the same time, the current market size is very small compared to the broader UK residential market, which is now around £1.4trn.”

Scope estimates that the volume of outstanding UK ERMs, for example, is in the £20bn range. However, securitisations of ERMs are not necessarily publicly rated and the PRA allows UK insurance companies to use internal risk management and rating methodologies to assess the credit risk associated when investing in securitisations backed by a pool of ERMs.

Consequently, only a limited number of transactions have been publicly rated since the financial crisis. Structures are complex and typically include one to four senior notes - accounting for 75% to 99% of the total value of the notes issued - to reduce fundamental spreads and manage downgrade risk.

Further, Toutain says: “Investors and originators have to consider factors such as longevity risk. And since underlying collateral will be seized at some point in the future, analysing long-term house price developments is also essential.”

He continues: “The price of all properties matters for ERMs, whereas only the price of the defaulted borrower’s property is relevant in classic RMBS. And because transactions are generally of long duration, a long-term analysis of house prices is more important than reliance on initial housing market conditions.”

Toutain cautions that there are additional risks beyond longevity to be considered. “Depending on the exact composition of the portfolio and the liability structure of a securitisation, investors may be exposed to interest-rate risk in case of asset-liability mismatches. Another specific feature of these transactions is the liquidity risk arising from the lack of scheduled payments, particularly acute during the initial phase of the transaction if the pool is not sufficiently seasoned.”

Voluntary ERM prepayments are generally linked to a refinancing of the initial mortgage or a move into a new home. Involuntary prepayments arise from the entry of the borrower into long-term care, which is a specific feature of the pools and not linked to the evolution of interest rates. The occurrence of higher-than-usual prepayment rates will accelerate payments from the underlying pool, thereby lowering excess spread to the transaction while suppressing any future uncertainty from house-price risk for such properties.

Mark Pelham

ABS

2018 best post-crisis year for Australia

RMBS dominates but unsecured ABS growing

2018 was the best year for Australian securitisation activity since the financial crisis and while issuance is dominated by RMBS, unsecured credit is expected to grow. This was according to panellists at Global ABS who also commented that, although much of the issuance is in AUD, firms may look to issue in other currencies once they have reached a certain scale and seek to attract a wider investor base.

James Kanaris, director at Westpac Institutional Bank, said that last year saw A$32bn in issuance, which shows the “robustness” of the market. He added that non-banks have grown steadily, with issuance from these entities now taking over issuance volumes from the banking sector.

Kanaris commented while the market is dominated by RMBS, there has been some growth in other asset classes like auto loan, credit card and personal loans. He added that there has also been a trend of slowing prepayments, driven by tighter lending standards and that issuers have adopted more conservative practices.

In terms of pricing, he noted that senior triple As in Australian RMBS widened in 2018, but that this was more reflective of general widening in the global credit market. This year, however, the market has seen spread tightening with bank-issued RMBS coming in at around 108bp on the seniors at the start of the year, tightening to around 90-95bp, such as on ANZ’s latest Kingfisher transaction.

Vernon Spencer, executive chairman at Stargate Global Asset Management said that while prime-RMBS is an attractive asset class, near-prime RMBS also offers good relative value, with yields from 140bp on seniors, up to 640bp on double-B notes. The only downside to investing lower down the capital stack, he added, is that a junior tranche will typically not be very large.

He also dismissed concerns about falling house prices in Australia as “nonsense”, pointing out that loans in arrears of 90 days or more account for only 0.58% of all Australian mortgages. This is, Spencer said, a very small amount and he added that there have never been any losses in prime Australian RMBS transactions to date.

The only concern he has for the Australian housing market is in relation to unemployment but this, he says, is stable with “full employment” in the country. The outlook for unsecured credit is also positive, said Eva Zileli, treasurer at Latitude Financial Services.

She said that of her firm’s ABS transactions, “performance…has been very good and very stable, despite retail sales deteriorating.” She added that this is “because unemployment is still relatively low and consumers are able to keep up with obligations. Our expectations are that this stability will continue, unless unemployment rises.”

Zileli echoed Kanaris, saying that prepayments have been relatively stable, particularly as responsible lending standards have had an impact on underwriting, with more verification implemented. Additionally, she said that her firm is looking to bring more credit card ABS transactions to market this year and that the deals have a lot of investor support, buoyed by the firm’s programmatic issuance.

In terms of issuing deals in other currencies, Zileli said that so far they have found enough demand in issuing just in Australian dollars. Furthermore, she commented that, as a relatively new issuer, it hasn’t made sense from an economic perspective to issue in other currencies but that, as the firm grows, so it may look to issue in other currencies to appeal to other investor bases.

It was also highlighted that there is something of a funding gap for SMEs in the country, with little SME ABS issuance, although this could change with the introduction of the government-backed Australian Business Securitisation Fund. Michael Bath, head of global markets and business strategy at the Australian Office of Financial Management added that the fund will be credited with A$2bn between 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2023 and it will invest in warehouse facilities and securitisations backed by SME loans, providing additional funding to smaller banks and non-bank lenders to on-lend to SMEs on more competitive terms.

Finally, the growth of green RMBS was discussed, which Naveli said she was involved in while working at NAB, which issued Australia’s first green RMBS as part of a broader strategy to support a transition to a low carbon economy. Overall, however, she said that investor reception was mixed with some “indifferent to the product”.

She added that investors with a green mandate were drawn to it, but that a big issue was that there were not many investors in Australia with both the expertise and appetite for RMBS and green investments. As such, Naveli said that green RMBS will be “slow going and not as fast growing as the unsecured bond market.”

Richard Budden

Structured Finance

SCI Start the Week - 10 June

A review of securitisation activity over the past seven days

Market commentary
Activity levels have been high across European ABS/MBS and CLOs of late, but last week appeared to be easing up ahead of the Global ABS conference (SCI 5 June).

"It's been pretty busy in both primary and secondary over the past couple of weeks," said one trader. "We've seen a lot of new deals being priced in the run up to Barcelona and a fair amount of secondary activity revolving around bid lists."

However, the trader added: "It has felt like people clearing the decks, making space for new issuance and tidying up their books. Equally, I'm not sure how much paper is reaching end-accounts - the dealer bid is pretty significant, given the selling seems to be combining with new issuance and therefore they are taking the lion's share of secondary."

In any event, the BWIC and new issuance pipeline was easing up, though a large auction of mainly GBP ABS/MBS was holding participants' attention. "I heard that all the line items traded, but we've not yet seen covers or had any colour as to where it ended up. It was an odd list in that it involved a bunch of fairly small pieces, but they were from all parts of the capital structure in different deals, so everyone was interested," said the trader.

Transaction of the week
Lineage Logistics Holdings is in the market with a CMBS backed by 14 temperature-controlled and ambient storage industrial properties located throughout the UK. Dubbed Cold Finance, the deal securitises a £282.8m floating-rate senior loan advanced to four borrowers - Wisbech Propco, Real Estate Gloucester, Harley International Properties and Yearsley Group - ultimately owned by Lineage (SCI 3 June).

The loan refinances an initial bridge facility provided by Goldman Sachs for the acquisition of the Yearsley Group in November 2018 and a further refinancing of two existing UK cold storage assets. The Yearsley Group owns 12 temperature-controlled storage facilities, with five of the assets providing a mixture of chilled and ambient storage options and the remainder offering frozen storage. The ongoing management of the portfolio will be brought within Lineage's operations, which is part of a wider European platform established in 2017, according to DBRS.

The portfolio's net lettable area of 2.6 million square-feet was 77.8% utilised by over 1000 customers over a 12-month period ending in December 2018. The top 10 customers contributed 49% of the total sum invoiced last year (£87m). The top two customers - Brakes and Unilever - account for approximately 22% of the total sum invoiced.

Other deal-related news

• UniCredit has expanded its Sandokan non-performing loan ABS programme. While the transaction is being carried out for asset management purposes, deconsolidation is expected to be achieved at some point, with the bank aiming for a gradual approach in order to mitigate the P&L impact of the deleveraging (SCI 7 June).
• Ten UK RMBS transactions have call dates during the remainder of the year and the refinancing of these deals should boost issuance volumes (SCI 18 January). However, while the incentives and conditions for exercising these calls are present, funding issues could raise obstacles (SCI 5 June).
• StockCo has launched the first securitisation warehouse transaction in Australia consisting of financing receivables primarily secured by livestock. The transaction has been completed with Goldman Sachs and the facility will be available for three years, initially to accommodate up to US$150m of livestock receivables, subject to pre-agreed eligibility criteria (SCI 7 June).
• The African Development Bank has approved a €100m partial credit guarantee (PCG) to African Agriculture Impact Investments (Mauritius) to develop commercial agriculture in Africa. The company will leverage the PCG to catalyse additional financing from international pension funds through an agri-linked note to facilitate investments in sustainable farmland and agricultural infrastructure across Africa (SCI 4 June).
• Following the loan EOD on the Maroon loan securitised in Elizabeth Finance 2018-1,  the servicer CBRE confirmed that a special servicing transfer event has occurred. CBRE met with the borrower and mezzanine lender to discuss the current situation and subsequently served a mezzanine intention notice to confirm whether the mezzanine lender intends to exercise its intercreditor agreement rights (SCI 4 June). 
• Five of the care homes securing the Ashbourne loan securitised in the ECLIP 2006-1 and ECLIP 2006-4 CMBS have closed, four of which are being marketed for sale. The formal sales process for 14 operating care homes began the week commencing 3 June, while a new operating agreement is in place for the Northern Ireland portfolio that provides for a structured sale of the properties. For more CMBS-related news, see SCI's CMBS loan events database.

Regulatory round-up

• The Alternative Reference Rates Committee has released recommended contractual fallback language for US dollar Libor-denominated securitisations, which proposes a hardwired approach regarding triggering events and the waterfall for rate determination. It also addresses the unique challenges presented by the securitisation market's asset and liability components (SCI 4 June).

Data

Pricings
ABS and RMBS issuance was tied last week, in terms of the number of deals pricing. A handful of CLOs also printed, as well as a CMBS.

Last week's non-auto ABS issuance comprised £285m NewDay Funding 2019-1, US$657m SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2019-B, US$1.12bn Verizon Owner Trust 2019-B and US$150.72m Welk Resorts 2019-A. The auto ABS were US$1.11bn Ally Auto Receivables Trust 2019-2 and US$800.03m AmeriCredit Automobile Receivables Trust 2019-2.

Notably, UK transactions accounted for half of last week's RMBS prints: £350m Bowbell No. 2, US$365.1m Gold Creek Asset Trust 2019-NQM1, £259.2m Mortimer BTL 2019-1, A$1bn Progress 2019-1 Trust, £259.2m Stratton Mortgage Funding 2019-1 and A$1bn Torrens Series 2019-1. Among the CLOs issued were US$508.2m Benefit Street CLO XVII, US$367.75m Elevation CLO 2015-4 (refinancing), US$456.25m Elm CLO 2014-1 (refinancing), €332.6m Fair Oaks Loan Funding I and €411.20m St Paul's CLO XI. Finally, the US$229.9mn COMM 2019-521F CMBS also priced.

BWIC volume

SCI Magazine
The latest edition of the SCI Magazine is available to download. It features an interview with the World Bank, as well as articles on the impact of the STS framework, auto loan portfolio transfers, capital relief trade credit events and the challenges facing the US student loan ABS sector.

Upcoming SCI event
Middle Market CLOs, 26 June, New York

Structured Finance

Slow but steady

Sentiment around STS warms, although issuance forecasts remain muted, say Global ABS panellists.

Extention of the STS regime to more asset classes would benefit the European ABS market, according to panellists at Global ABS today. They also shared muted optimism about the next six months for the sector, predicting steady but slow growth.

Salim Nathoo, partner, Allen & Overy, highlighted that the Securitisation Regulation is an extra step issuers have to go through, with STS providing an “additional challenge.” He added that this is particularly true around disclosure of information to investors and reporting requirements.

Nathoo commented, however, that the sector is picking up momentum and said: “The volume of STS deals is increasing exponentially. It is heartening to see the number of issuers applying for verification and industry embracing STS.”

He did note, however, that the market would benefit from other asset classes being able to apply for STS, such as synthetics or CMBS. Otherwise, Nathoo commented that there is a chance of a “bifurcated market” and so he suggested that “the better the regime can be extended to other assets, the better…”

Andrew Mulley, md and head of issuer services EMEA, Citibank, commented that while recent clarifications from ESMA “were helpful”, the market is still waiting on the disclosure and reporting templates from ESMA, which should provide some clarity. Similarly, Kevin Ingram, partner at Clifford Chance, said that there is a problem with STS surrounding historic transactions, whereby those issued before 2019 will not have the STS label, despite being identical to deals issued in 2019 that have the label.

Boudewijn Dierick, head of flow ABS and covered bond structuring, said that in terms of the success of the regulation, after a slow first quarter the authorisation of the third party verification agents has helped to “unlock deals.” He added that if this hadn’t happened, STS could have been “forgotten”, but suggested that while the market had a slow start to the year, “more deals will continue”.

Ingram agreed with Dierick, saying that the next six months will see more deals come through but that these will be both private and public. He added that there is certainly a great deal of investor appetite for European ABS and noted that growth may not all come from public deals, but the “balance between private and public deals will change all the time.”

Later in the day, panellists looked at unsecured consumer credit in Europe and Markus Papenroth, md at Fitch, commented that while the macroeconomic outlook across much of Europe is positive, there are certain “pressure points”. In Spain there is a rise in consumer credit origination volumes and growing competition and - as such - there has been a decline in origination standards in Spain, with rising defaults in recent vintages and charge offs in the last few months, as a result.

He commented too that Italy has seen a big growth in refinancing activity in unsecured lending which can have negative implications for reported data. In the UK, too, Papenroth noted that in the credit card space, there has been a slight uptick in delinquencies since 2016, alongside a rise in household indebtedness.

The growth of capital relief trades (CRTs) was also noted by David Sanchez Rodriguez from Santander, noting that his firm, as a global bank, has many retail portfolios – he noted that the bank recently launched the first ever Spanish auto loan CRT. Auto loans, he added, are optimal collateral for a synthetic transaction, particularly as investors are very comfortable with it and he added that - more broadly - investor appetite for CRTs has grown in recent years.

Fei-Fei Porter, capital markets director at Prodigy also commented that her firm is preparing a debut securitisation backed by student loans. As an online lender, she said that her firm has to do a large amount of education with investors about the product, as well as a degree of “convincing” around their data and that their processes for collections work.

Porter added that the firm has also got a diversified funding base, with HNW clients providing a stable source of financing although they have a “different mandate.” She added that, despite originating loans for ten years, it is only in the last “two to three that we’ve needed bank and institutional financing to support our growth, which has taken us to the point where we’ve raised US$1bn.”

Richard Budden

Capital Relief Trades

Risk transfer round-up - 14 June

CRT sector developments and deal news

Standard Chartered is believed to have priced a corporate capital relief trade this week. The bank’s last corporate CRT was completed in June 2018. Dubbed Sumeru 3, the US$285m CLN paid 7.70% (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).

Sumeru 3 coincided with a resurgence in Standard Chartered’s risk transfer issuance, following a three-year gap. Last year the bank printed four capital relief trades and three of them referenced trade finance assets.

CLOs

Debut European ESG CLO sealed

Inaugural transaction sees some structural changes

Fair Oaks recently priced its debut European CLO, Fair Oaks Loan Funding, backed by an ESG compliant portfolio. Between marketing and pricing, the €332.6m transaction underwent some structural changes, and received a wide range of participation across the capital stack, including US and European investors.

Tyler Wallace, pm at Fair Oaks, comments that, overall, the transaction has been a success although it was delayed by a “few weeks”, as a result of an early Easter and public holidays. The deal has also undergone some changes from the original structure.

These include the introduction of unrated €2m class Z notes and €1m class M notes which, he says, are “generally a result of the originator model we use. The Z and M notes are essentially fee notes which you put in note form – they’re not offered.”

As well as this, the class A tranche has been split in two, with the new, smaller, class A2 notes, now having a Euribor cap. This, he explains, benefits the equity and is generally cheaper than issuing a fixed-rate tranche.

The transaction is by Moody’s and Fitch as Aaa/AAA on the €2m class X notes (three-month Euribor plus 45bp), Aaa/AAA on the €133.32m class A1s (plus 96bp), Aaa/AAA on the €68.18m class A2s (plus 98bp), Aa2/AA on the €34.1m class Bs (plus 185bp), A2/A on the €19m class Cs (plus 260bp), Baa3/BBB- on the €21.6m class Ds (plus 375bp), Ba3/BB- on the €16.3m class Es (plus 641bp) and B3/B- on the €7.1m class Fs (890bp). There is also a €28m unrated subordinate tranche.

Additionally, Wallace comments that the transaction has a two year reinvestment period which “made sense from an equity perspective given the steepness of the triple-A curve.” He adds: “It also isn’t surprising that the class A notes are looking to price circa 20bp inside the last debut Euro CLO, which had a 4.5 year reinvestment period.  The equity retains the option to reset or refinance after one year.”

In terms of investor reception, Wallace says that the ESG element of the transaction was a conversation starter with investors, particularly attracting more attention from European firms. It didn’t, however, impact on the pricing of the deal.

He adds that “many investors simply don’t participate in debut deals” although some indicated an interest in future CLOs from the firm. Despite this, the CLO received investment across the capital stack which, he notes, can be challenging for a debut deal, adding that it also has US and European investors.

Wallace comments: “I think the tight original issue discount on the mezz notes is an indicator of the demand on the transaction and testament to the quality of the deal. Mezz investors are looking at the underlying credits - so we believe the pricing reflects the quality of the portfolio.”

He says he also had to field more questions relating to a turn in the credit cycle. He concludes: “During the marketing of the deal investors asked questions indicating growing concern about the robustness of the CLO sector in weathering a downturn. There were focussed enquires about the underlying sectors we invest in - or avoid - and a deeper exploration of the credits in the portfolio.”

Richard Budden

Structured Finance

Europe sees 1Q issuance dip

Sector developments and company hires

ABS vet nabbed

Angelo, Gordon & Co has hired Sunil Kothari as md, responsible for originating and executing on residential and consumer debt investment opportunities across Europe. Kothari reports to TJ Durkin, co-head of structured credit at Angelo Gordon. Kothari most recently served as evp, pm at PIMCO Europe, where he was head of the European ABS and covered bond desks and led acquisitions of whole loan portfolios for fixed income and alternatives strategies.

Analytics launched

DBRS has launched new DBRS Viewpoint products for Europe, offering transparency into the agency’s credit analysis and rating process for European CMBS and RMBS collateral, including information powered by loan-level data from European DataWarehouse (EDW). The launch also includes the public release of its European RMBS Insight Asset Model, which allows users to estimate stress scenario default rates, loss given default and scenario loss rates of certain European residential mortgage loan portfolios in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. Users are also able to compare their own portfolios with transactions in the EDW database from the relevant jurisdictions.

Euro bank joins repackaging platform

Deutsche Bank has joined Single Platform Investment Repackaging Entity’s (SPIRE), multi-dealer programme bringing the number of dealers on the platform to eleven, increasing choice for investors in the repackaging market. The SPIRE programme allows for repackaged notes arranged by the platform’s dealer-members, to be issued in standardised formats. Investors can gain exposure to the returns of a variety of underlying collateral assets and customisable payoffs. The platform aims to bring transparency liquidity and simplicity to the market for repackaged securities. To date, in excess of €2.6bn-equivalent has been issued to major UK, European and Asian institutional investors since the programme was launched in May 2017.

Europe sees start-of-year dip

AFME’s 1Q19 Securitisation Data Report shows that €32.4bn of securitised product was issued in Europe in the first quarter, a decline of 63.4% from 4Q18 and 44.7% from 1Q18. Of the amount issued, €16.5bn was placed (representing 50.9%), compared to the 39.9% of issuance placed in 4Q18 and the 55.1% of issuance in 1Q18. Outstanding volumes rose slightly to €1.2trn at end-1Q19, a decline of 3.8% quarter-on-quarter and an increase of 0.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, European ABCP issuance totalled €158.5bn in 1Q19, a sharp increase of 62.4% quarter-on-quarter and a 132.3% increase year-on-year. Multi-seller conduits continue to dominate as the largest category of issuer in the ABCP market, particularly from France and Ireland.

Investment manager makes raft of promotions

Angel Oak Capital has made a series of promotions, with Clayton Triick and Colin McBurnette promoted to senior portfolio manager and Cheryl Pate promoted to portfolio manager. David Silvera has been appointed as the firm’s coo, Randy Chrisman as cmo and Lu Chang as chief risk and operations officer.

Structured Finance

Advisor boosts SF expertise

Sector developments and company hires

Acquisitions

Greensill has acquired receivables securitisation specialist Finacity which will now become a wholly-owned part of Greensill. The move comes shortly after Softbank invested US$800m in Greensill. Finacity’s ceo, Adrian Katz, will continue in his role under Greensill’s ownership.

Advisor, broker boosts structured finance expertise

finnCap Group has expanded its debt advisory team with two senior new hires. The enlarged team will enhance finnCap's ability to source and structure debt finance for its clients from an increasingly diverse range of lenders. Graham Cooke joins as a partner from RBS/Natwest where he worked for 30 years. He has experience in corporate coverage and debt origination. Among his previous roles within RBS/Natwest, Cooke was national head of debt origination in structured finance with a focus on the SME marketplace.

Krishan Raval joins as an associate from Livingstone Partners. He has five years' experience and brings specific expertise in sponsored and non-sponsored mid-market debt raise transactions including refinancings, recapitalisations and acquisition financings. Prior to his role at Livingstone Partners, Raval was an analyst at EY in the capital and debt advisory team.

ILS

Aon Securities, has hired Michael Popkin and Rick Miller in New York, who both join the firm from JLT Capital Markets. They were both co-heads at JLT before the firm’s acquisition by Marsh & McLennan.

Investor makes double hire

Ares Management has hired Kevin Alexander as partner, leading investment origination and structuring of specialty assets within Ares’ alternative credit strategy. Alexander joins from Natixis where he most recently served as deputy ceo, Americas and head of global markets, Americas. The firm has also hired Scott Rosen to the role of md on the US direct lending team. He was previously at Wellspring Capital Management and CIBC.

Structured Finance

CLO firm boosts originations expertise

Company hires and sector developments

CLO firm boosts originations team

Monroe Capital has expanded its direct originations team with the addition of seven experienced investment professionals: David Fischer and Nick McDearis in the firm’s Atlanta office; Dan Letizia and Tommy Ryan in its Chicago office; and Jack Bernstein in the New York office. In particular, Fischer and McDearis have been named mds and will co-lead the firm’s relationship sourcing and the origination of new business opportunities within the Southeast region. They have a combined average of over 12 years of experience in commercial lending and structured finance, and previously worked at AloStar Capital Finance.

CRE CDO transfer

Dock Street Capital Management has been appointed successor collateral manager to Sorin Real Estate CDO III. The CRE CDO was previously being managed by Torchlight Investors subsidiary Collateral Management, which assumed the responsibility from RE CDO Management in February 2013. RE CDO Management, in turn, assumed the collateral management role from Sorin Capital Management in May 2011 (see SCI’s CDO manager transfer database).

Green K-deal prepped

Freddie Mac is expanding its K-deals CMBS programme with securities designed to meet the needs of investors seeking green bonds. The new KG-deals will exclusively securitise workforce housing loans made through the GSE’s Green Advantage platform, which requires borrowers to make energy and water efficiency improvements to their properties. Freddie Mac has purchased more than US$44.7bn in green loans since the inception of the platform in 2016.

ILS

Citi has hired Philippe Kremer as director, structured solutions global markets. He joins from Swiss Re where he was director, deputy head of ILS structuring, Americas.

Singapore law branch bulks up SF expertise

The Singapore office of Eversheds Sutherland today announced the appointment of Gerard Ng as a partner in the banking and financial services practice group.

With over 20 years of experience, Gerard is a specialist in lending, structured finance, acquisition finance and structured products. Prior to joining Eversheds Harry Elias, Ng was a partner at an international law firm.

Structured Finance

Law firm expands SF expertise

Company hires and sector developments

Clean energy firm names cfo

Renew Financial has named Mary Kathryn Lynch cfo, having previously served as the firm’s evp of finance and leading its capital markets team in executing three rated securitisations in 2017 and 2018. She has 10 years of experience in the clean energy industry, working with Sunrun and VoteSolar. Prior to that, she worked at UBS, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Law firm nabs SF vets

Dechert has hired John McGrath as senior structured finance partner and Simon Fawell as structured finance disputes partner to the firm’s London office. McGrath primarily represents funds and other buy-side parties on a wide range of financial products often involving enforcement or restructuring of derivatives, securitisations and other structured financings. He works closely with Simon Fawell on disputes involving structured financings. Fawell focuses his practice on complex structured finance disputes, advising on a wide range of subject areas including banking, structured finance, derivatives, CMBS, asset financing and leasing.