Contents

Capital Relief Trades

Calabrian calibration

FHFA silent on the implication of the director's comments about GSE CRT last week

The Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) has been unable provide more details about what director Mark Calabria’s meant at last week’s Congressional hearings when he apppeared to envisage a reduced place for CRT deals offered by the GSEs in the future.

Calabria was speaking before the House Financial Services Committee at a hearing entitled “Prioritizing Fannie’s and Freddie’s Capital over America’s Homeowners and Renters? A Review of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

He was asked repeatedly about the re-proposed capital new rules, released in May, and their impact upon the CRT programme run by the GSEs. In response to questioning from Congressman Robert Williams, (R-Texas), Calabria said that it was “appropriate” for the CRT programme to be incentivised by the 2018 capital rules, but, moving forward, the CRT market will play a “more calibrated role.”

The FHFA was unavailable for comment on the above.

The re-proposed capital rules afford less generous capital allowance for CRT deals than the 2018 rules. Responding to criticism of the new rules and the expected impact upon the CRT market, Calabria noted that they are still more generous than those applied to bank CRT deals.

He explained that the 2018 rules gave dollar for dollar capital relief, but stressed a dollar of CRT is not the same as a dollar of equity.

There were reservations about the new rules and the impact upon the CRT market expressed by Republicans and Democrats. In the words of Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R – Missouri), the CRT programme “is one of the biggest successes of conservatorship.”

Since the revised capital guidlines were unveileved, Fannie Mae has exited the CRT market. There have been three Freddie Mac STACR deals since the beginning of the Covid 19 lockdown, but no CAS deals and market sources say that Fannie Mae will not return to the CRT space until there is greater certainty about the final shape of the rules and their likely impact.

Congressman Steve Stivers (R – Ohio) highlighted this development and asked Calabria to confirm that Fannie Mae had stopped CRT and further asked whether he intended to encourage it to get started again. The FHFA director said that it is the case that Fannie is out of the CRT market at the moment, and, in response to the second part of the question, said that he had not advised it to stop issuance.

He did add, however, that he expects the May capital rules to undergo some changes before final implementation and that the CRT market will not go away.

Getting down to nitty gritty, Congressman French Hill (R – Arkansas) asked Calabria details of the GSEs’ market share in 2019 versus 2008. The FHFA director told the House that their share of the single-family market is 40% and 60% for the multi-family – “much larger” than in 2008.

Calabria added that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not “wards of the state” from a legal perspective, and that it is up to Congress to determine whether they should be public or private entities. It is Mark Calabria’s declared aim to take the GSEs out of conservatorship and into private hands.

Simon Boughey

Structured Finance

Spread compression

European securitisation market update

European auto and consumer ABS have seen a strong reception this week, despite renewed virus-related concerns. The first German auto ABS since May printed at tight levels, for example, while a rare UK consumer ABS from Premium Credit has entered the pipeline.

One trader notes: “Over the last session, we had seen a slight pause in the market - in some cases, because of concerns about the virus. That has been the main issue. However, demand has now returned, with high levels of subscription, and spreads are on a tightening trend again.”

IPTs for the €350m 1.94-year senior notes of SG’s Red & Black Auto Lease Germany 3 were released at Euribor plus low-20s (DM) and they priced at plus 18bp today, with coverage levels of 2.8x. The €41.2m class B notes priced at 0.7% and the €20.6m unrated class Cs priced at 1.4%.

Elsewhere in the auto ABS market, MotoNovo announced a new deal from its UK auto ABS shelf Turbo Finance. With a £584m provisional pool comprised of 64,846 auto loans, Turbo Finance 9 has STS designation and two tranches at the top of the capital stack are being offered, although a portion of these notes may be retained.

Additionally, Cars Alliance Auto Leases France V 2020-1 has been announced, with the €950m class A notes and the €41.5m class B notes also being offered. Credit Agricole and Societe Generale are joint lead arrangers and joint lead managers alongside BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, IPTs were released today for CIF’s €700m Harmony French Home Loans 2020-2, with the class A notes talked at three-month Euribor plus 45bp area and the class B notes at low/mid-100s. A further French RMBS is also marketing - BPCE Home Loans 2020, backed by a €1.25bn portfolio of seasoned prime fixed-rate mortgage loans. €1bn in senior paper is expected to be offered.

Elsewhere, UK buy-to-let RMBS Lanebrook Mortgage Transaction 2020-1 was priced and launched by Shawbrook Bank. The margin on the senior tranche was set at SONIA plus 110bp, with final coverage levels of 1.3x for the class A1 notes, 2.6x for the class B notes, 2.2x for the class C notes, 3x for the class D notes and 2x for the class E notes.

Finally, the UK consumer ABS announced by Premium Credit - PCL Funding 2020-1 - is a non-STS deal. The transaction is backed by loans predominantly granted to finance insurance premia. Three SONIA-linked tranches are being offered to investors.

Jasleen Mann

Structured Finance

SCI Start the Week - 21 September

A review of securitisation activity over the past seven days

REMINDER: SCI CRT Awards
The submissions period for the 2020 SCI CRT Awards is now open. The qualifying period for the awards is the 12 months to 30 September 2020.
Pitches and/or any queries should be emailed to cs@structuredcreditinvestor.com by 9 October. Click here for information on categories and the submissions process.
Final selections will be made by the SCI editorial team, with input from an industry advisory board. The winners will be announced in a special awards edition of SCI and at the London SCI Capital Relief Trades Seminar on 23 November.

Last week's stories
Aussie opportunities
Increasing issuance in Australian primary market
Auto SRT priced
Santander unveils its first post-Covid Spanish auto SRT
Forbearance crossroads
Mortgages in forbearance well off the peaks but uncertainty beckons
Regulatory divergence
Brexit complicates ESMA RTS compliance
Restructuring inked
Attica Bank restructures NPL ABS
Tech crazy
Securitizations of tech assets finding favour in Covid world

Data

BWIC volume

Secondary market commentary from SCI PriceABS
18 September 2020
USD CLO Mezz/Equity
11 covers yesterday - 1 x A, 3 x BBB, 5 x BB and 2 x Equity. The single-A trade is York's YCLO 2014-1A CRR cover 236dm / 5.93y WAL (2021 RP profile) trades at the tight end of a 240dm-320dm range in this cohort this week, all metrics are strong on this York bond. The BBBs trade in a narrow dispersion 388dm-397dm (2021/2025 RP profiles) at the tight end of a 350dm-550dm range this week, once again BBB bonds today have strong metrics (see PriceABS trade listing).
The BBs trade 991dm-1234dm (2021-2024 RP profiles) versus 650dm-1050dm range in the same cohort this week. The 3 bonds outside of this range (>1000dm) have MV shortfalls (98.3-99.85), elevated Sub80 assets (8-16%) and a weaker manager on the two widest bonds (MJX).
The 2 equity are from CIFC and American Money both trading in late 30s / 40 cash price context trading to NAV+2-3y CF, see PriceABS trade listing for full details.
EUR MEZZ/EQUITY CLO
There are 17 trades today. 8 of them are single A and one of these is an unusual GBP denominated CLO. The EUR bonds traded in a range from 265dm to 310dm. The GBP bond was at 324dm. These are unchanged trading levels.
There are 2 x BBB. Both of them are Harvest bonds and they traded at 390dm and 440dm.
The 5 x BB have traded between 740dm and 780dm except for Aurium 5 (Spire Partners) which traded at 685dm. The two widest trades are from Chenavari and Carlyle and their slightly weaker MV OC and Jnr OC cushions do justify a modest widening.
There are 2 x B. Contego 4 (Five Arrows) traded at 890dm. Aurium 1 traded at 1060dm. Their performance metrics are very similar. Spire Partners was the tightest trade at the BB level and here it is the wider trade. Just goes to show that different market practitioners have different opinions.
DM, Yield & WAL - proprietary SCI data points complement Cover prices
PriceABS Data now includes DM/Yield/WAL for all CLO trading and Euro ABS/RMBS.

Capital Relief Trades

JP Morgan at CRT again

The US bank is reportedly readying a corporate/SME loan deal

JP Morgan Chase is preparing a capital relief trade (CRT) referencing corporate and SME loans, say well-placed market sources.

It is getting ready to place the trade among a “small club” of investors before the end of financial year, add the sources.

JP Morgan has been unavailable for comment.

The deal represents a broadening of asset classes referenced by risk transfer deals brought by JP Morgan. Hitherto, it has transferred risk on mortgages and, at the end of August, on a portfolio of car loans.

In February of this year it received regulatory approval for an October 2019 credit risk transfer of mortgage assets, and this afforded the green light to press forward not only with housing assets but also a greater range of loans.

However, CRT market participants have said in the past that borrowers are much more likely to gain traction among US investors in the MBS space than in other asset classes.

Simon Boughey

Capital Relief Trades

Syon safe

Fitch affirms ratings for Lloyds SRTs

Fitch has removed the Syon Securities 2019 and 2020 transactions from rating watch negative (RWN), after having placed them there in April following the coronavirus outbreak. The class C and D notes of Syon 2019 and class C notes of Syon 2020 were placed on RWN due to an expectation of weakening asset performance.

Syon Securities 2019 and 2020 are the first two synthetic securitisations of owner-occupied residential mortgage loans originated by Bank of Scotland under the Halifax brand and secured over properties located in England, Wales and Scotland. The transactions are for risk-transfer purposes and include loans selected with loan-to-values (LTVs) higher than 90% (SCI 7 February).

Fitch analysed the transactions under its coronavirus assumptions and considered the ratings sufficiently robust to affirm them. However, the class D notes of Syon 2019 and class B and C notes of Syon 2020 have been assigned negative outlooks.

The rating agency’s coronavirus assumptions stipulate a generalised weakening in borrowers' ability to keep up with mortgage payments, due to the economic impact of the pandemic and the related containment measures. Furthermore, the junior notes in these transactions are more vulnerable and, compared to a cash securitisation, cannot be recouped from revenue given the lack of a PDL ledger.

The coronavirus assumptions are more modest for higher rating levels as the corresponding rating assumptions are already meant to withstand more severe shocks. Rating watch negative is typically event-driven and more short-term in nature, while negative outlooks cover a longer-term period, typically one to two years.

Borrowers on payment holidays in Syon 2019 and Syon 2020 represent low proportions of the pools, as of 31 August 2020. Fitch does not view payment holidays as a liquidity risk in these transactions, since borrower interest payments do not affect noteholder payments. Additionally, Fitch also applied a payment holiday stress for the first six months of projections, assuming up to 30% of delayed principal receipts.

The actual payment of this interest does not come from borrower payments but from the Bank of Scotland, since the issuer is required to pay the weighted average spread on the CLNs under the financial guarantee. Interest payments to the noteholders consist of SONIA plus a spread.

The SONIA component is paid through the amounts earned from the cash account -accruing interest at SONIA - where the note proceeds are deposited. The spread component, on the other hand, is paid through the guarantee fee amounts, which are calculated to exactly match the spread component due.

Stelios Papadopoulos

Capital Relief Trades

Risk transfer round-up - 25 September

CRT sector developments and deal news

Goldman Sachs is rumoured to be prepping two US corporate significant risk transfer deals for 4Q20 and the lender is believed to have closed another corporate deal in 3Q20. The trades would be the bank’s first SRTs (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).

Capital Relief Trades

Tight pricing

BNP Paribas completes SRT

BNP Paribas has finalised a €324m funded financial guarantee and is scheduled to complete a €100m insurance policy before the end of 3Q20. Dubbed Resonance Five, the tranches reference a static €8bn global corporate portfolio that consists of both drawn and undrawn commitments. The transaction is so far the most tightly priced corporate capital relief trade of the year.

The tranches amortise on a pro-rata basis with triggers to sequential over a 2.3-year portfolio weighted average life. The funded tranche was priced at three-month Euribor plus 7.49%, well below the typical 9%-12% range for such deals.

According to sources close to the transaction, the low pricing can be explained by several reasons. The first is the performance track record of the programme and the static nature of the portfolio. But, secondly and perhaps more saliently, BNP Paribas limited exposure to certain sectors that are vulnerable to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as retail, leisure and automotive. Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank utilised a similar strategy for their post-Covid corporate SRTs (SCI 19 June).

As with previous Resonance transactions, the significant risk transfer trade is a club deal and involves an anchor investor, which became even more necessary due to the pandemic. The French lender typically begins the bidding process with an anchor investor before opening the transaction to others, although this is not always the preferred route.

The fourth Resonance deal closed in September 2019 and referenced an €8bn global corporate portfolio. BNP Paribas initiated the programme in 2013 (see SCI’s capital relief trades database).

Stelios Papadopoulos

CLOs

Into the light?

European CLOs continue to improve

The European CLO market is seeking to build on its relatively stable foundations of recent months as prices move ever-tighter. Notwithstanding the broader ramifications of a continuing global pandemic, the sector looks set to be leaving the darkest days of March and April behind.

Last Friday saw the tightest post-Covid print yet in the European CLO primary market, with the triple-As from Blackrock’s European CLO X coming in at 120DM. Meanwhile in secondary, spreads narrowed week on week throughout the debt stack by five to ten basis points in investment grade and 25bp and 50bp in double- and single-Bs respectively.

Such levels are supported by better than expected fundamentals and could indicate that European CLOs are past the worst of the crisis, according to new research from Morgan Stanley. “Fundamentals have stabilised, with triple-C levels coming off their peaks, curing of OC tests that failed only for a handful of CLOs and WARF levels easing from their recent highs,” says Vasundhara Goel, Morgan Stanley’s head of European ABS and CLO research, and author of the report. “On the liabilities side too, only around 5% of the triple-B and below universe has so far been downgraded.”

The report notes that realised downgrade and default levels have been far below the assumptions run by Morgan Stanley in its CLO stress test report in May. Further, the current pipeline of loan downgrades into triple-C – i.e. B3/B- on watch negative – is also benign, at less than 1% of the loan market. Overall, this bodes well for the outlook for CLOs across the stack, it argues.

“We continue to see opportunities to pick up value by adding CLO double-Bs and top-tier single-Bs in Europe,” Goel explains. “As cleaner non-IG names tighten, incremental opportunities will arise lower down the quality spectrum in second-tier single-B tranches and in top-tier CLO equity.”

She continues: “Equity cashflows in July were healthy, despite a number of loans switching to semi-annual payments, and there is potential for further upside. However, tail risks remain in play and uncertainty continues to be a part of the investment backdrop for now.”

At the same time, the report concludes: “Triple-A remains risk-remote and our preferred pick across the stack as it has lagged the recent rally in credit. Moreover, a higher floor value (~45bp now) and negative Euro-US dollar basis (-15bp) make it attractive for dollar-funded investors. We continue to advocate triple-As as a defensive source of value in the CLO stack.”

Mark Pelham

Structured Finance

Moody's move mezz positive

Sector developments and company hires

Moody’s move mezz positive

Moody's has issued a request for comment on proposed changes to its methodology for rating CLOs that adjust its analytical treatment of corporate obligors with a negative outlook or whose ratings are on review for upgrade or downgrade. If the proposal is adopted, Moody’s expects an overall positive impact of a one-notch upgrade that will affect around 8% of the approximately 7,000 outstanding CLO tranches it rates in the US and EMEA. The impact will be concentrated mostly on tranches currently rated Ba and higher, although the agency does not expect that any Aa rated tranches in EMEA will be impacted.

The RFC deadline is 19 October and, unless changes are made following the comment period, this updated credit rating methodology will be adopted as proposed and replace the version from 14 August 2020.

In other news…

ADB investment
Clifford Capital Holdings (CCH) has received a US$95m investment from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will support its future growth plans, including broadening its business capabilities to address the increased demand for sustainable infrastructure financing in Asia. ADB will have a shareholding interest of 6.3% in CCH immediately post-closing and a pro forma shareholding of 10.8% once all equity capital committed has been fully deployed.

The transaction comprises a US$50m investment from ADB and a US$45m investment from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), which is administered by ADB. It marks ADB’s first investment in a Singapore entity since the opening of its Singapore office in March 2020.

AMR auction due
An AMR auction for Mountain View CLO XIV is scheduled for 29 September, facilitated by the KopenTech platform. The number of broker-dealer participants on the platform has increased from five in January’s auction to 13. Bids can now be submitted through Alliance Global Partners, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Brownstone Investment Group, GreensLedge Capital Markets, Janney Montgomery Scott, Jefferies, MUFG, Nomura, Odeon Capital Group, RBC, RW Baird and Seaport Global Securities. 

EMEA
Credit Suisse has hired Dimitris Papadopoulos as head of European CLO origination and syndication. He joins Credit Suisse from Natixis, where he was head of structured credit syndication and CLO origination. Papadopoulos replaces Florent Chagnard.

North America
Aon has hired Stephen Pett as vp and broker within its reinsurance solutions business in Bermuda. He focuses on industry loss warranties and other specialty reinsurance products. Pett joins Aon from Nephila Capital, where he was a senior member of its underwriting team. He reports to Tony Fox, chairman and ceo, Bermuda, for the reinsurance solutions business.

Churchill Asset Management has hired Christopher Freeze as senior md and head of investor relations. Based in New York City, he will report to David Heilbrunn, head of product development & capital raising. Freeze joins Churchill from The Carlyle Group, where he was most recently md and co-head of investor relations.

David Moffitt has joined Investcorp as co-head of US credit management. He is based in New York and reports to Jeremy Ghose, global head of Investcorp Credit Management. Previously, Moffitt was a partner and head of tactical investment opportunities and CLO management at LibreMax Capital, president of Trimaran Advisors and president of CAVU Investment Partners in New York.

Nomura Securities has recruited David Cannon as head of CMO trading, based in New York. He joins Nomura from MUFG, where he was head of MBS sales and trading.

Sabal Capital Partners has appointed Barry Gersten to head of production for its CMBS business. Gersten joined Sabal in early 2020 as md and is based in New York.

Servicer acquisition
SitusAMC has acquired the third-party loan servicing and asset management platform of Cohen Financial, comprising over 120 employees. The acquisition expands SitusAMC's US primary servicing, asset management and special servicing portfolio to approximately 10,000 loans, representing more than US$130bn in total unpaid principal balance.

The consolidated offering will be led by SitusAMC's existing business unit leadership team of Tim Mazzetti, head of US servicing and asset management, and Dean Wheeler, head of client service delivery.

Cohen Financial parent Truist will retain Cohen's debt advisory and placement platform, which it will migrate under the Grandbridge brand. Truist will remain a key banking partner for SitusAMC and its servicing clients.

Strategic relationship inked
Leucadia Asset Management (LAM) has established a strategic relationship with FourSixThree Capital. Led by cio Scott Balkan, FourSixThree focuses on special situations and distressed credit opportunities across sectors and geographies. Balkan will be joined by co-managing partner Bill Kelly, along with co-founders Drew Newton and Rayan Joshi.

Balkan joins FourSixThree Capital from PointState Capital, where he was a portfolio manager and head of credit. Kelly will be the coo and chief compliance officer of the firm and was previously co-founder of Panning Capital Management.

Newton will be head of research upon his anticipated arrival in December and was most recently head of distressed credit research at Goldman Sachs. Finally, Joshi will be head of restructuring, having previously worked at Hawkeye Capital, Panning Capital and Marble Ridge Capital.

As part of the strategic relationship, LAM is providing seed capital to FourSixThree.

Structured Finance

Private credit fund formed

Sector developments and company hires

Private credit fund formed
FrontWell Capital Partners has launched with committed seed capital of more than US$350m from a group of international investors. Headquartered in Toronto, the firm aims to provide transitionary senior debt financing - including asset-based and cashflow loans - to middle-market companies in the US and Canada.

FrontWell is led by founder and ceo Patrick Dalton, who previously served as founder and ceo of Gordon Brothers Finance Company and managed several businesses as senior partner of Apollo Global Management’s credit platform. John Ho is a founder and cfo of the firm, having previously been cfo of Callidus Capital Corp and prior to that holding senior roles in the Brookfield Asset Management family of operating companies.

In other news…

Mid-market origination platform launched
Barings has formed Barings Mubadala Enterprise (BME), an evergreen origination platform seeking to provide financing solutions to European middle-market businesses. BME and its capital partners aim to provide US$3.5bn in financing over the next 18 months to help meet growing corporate demand for flexible capital solutions in Europe, focusing particularly on opportunities in the UK, France, Benelux and the Nordics. The partnership is anchored by Mubadala Investment Company and will invest alongside MassMutual and Barings' capital.

Repository application submitted
European DataWarehouse (EDW) has submitted an application to become a Securitisation Repository, registered and supervised by ESMA. Since the platform was initially launched, EDW has made a number of enhancements to reflect the latest template changes and requirements from ESMA. EDW has collected loan-level data and relevant documentation for nearly 1,600 transactions since inception.

Third close for NPL fund
Arrow Global Group has held a third close of its inaugural closed-end fund Arrow Credit Opportunities SCSp, raising an additional €300m of capital commitments, bringing total capital commitments to €1.5bn. This latest raise includes €75m from Arrow, which has committed to invest capital amounting to 25% of the total commitments to the fund alongside other investors.

The third close has drawn strong interest from a diverse range of global investors, with the fund now including commitments from the US, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Nordics and Asia. Arrow intends to deploy the fund to capitalise on opportunities in the NPL market, which have been heightened by the economic dislocation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Structured Finance

Revolver exposures on offer

Sector developments and company hires

Revolver exposures on offer
Goldman Sachs is in the market with a balance sheet synthetic securitisation referencing a portfolio of predominantly investment-grade senior unsecured revolving loan facilities. Dubbed Goldman Sachs Bank USA credit-linked notes due 2025, the transaction comprises two classes of S&P-rated CLNs for a total of US$184.8m.

The transaction documentation links the ability of Goldman Sachs to receive protection payments on the referenced obligations depending on the performance of the same cash exposure it holds on its own or its affiliates' balance sheets. This feature limits the bank’s ability to be net-short on these reference obligations, as it would not receive protection payments unless it holds a cash long position, according to S&P.

“In our view, this transaction is akin to a reference obligation-only transaction, whereby the default likelihood and the recovery characteristics mirror those of the underlying obligations. Consequently, while executed synthetically, this transaction bears more resemblance to a CLO than to a synthetic CDO structure,” the agency notes.

In other news…

Bank acquisition agreed
Supply@MECapital (SYME) has entered into a strategic agreement with a European alternative investment firm and its co-investors - 1AF2 and The AvantGarde Group - to acquire a bank in Europe. The objective of the transaction is to support and facilitate the rapid growth of the Supply@ME platform, with the full support of the central bank within that jurisdiction.

As part of the agreement, Supply@ME will give the bank pre-emption rights to invest in each securitisation note issue and other funding programmes, to support the platform as it grows. In return, the bank will provide up to €8bn of funding over five years, to support inventory funding across all of SYME's international operations.

The AIF has committed to recapitalise the bank immediately following the completion of the central bank's regulatory banking authorisation process.

Cross-border credit card ABS prepped
NewDay has announced a UK credit card ABS from its Partnership Funding master trust via BofA, BNP Paribas, Santander and SMBC Nikko, breaking its two-year issuance streak from the NewDay Funding trust. In a first for the programme, NewDay Partnership Funding 2020-1 comprises a dollar-denominated class A1 tranche.

In total, the class A tranche includes £139m of protected orders, while protected orders account for two-thirds of the class B and Cs and a third of the class Ds. The deal is expected to price early next week.

New CMU Action Plan unveiled
The European Commission has unveiled a new Capital Markets Union Action Plan. Under the plan, the Commission commits to 16 new actions to achieve three key objectives: support a green, digital, inclusive and resilient economic recovery by making financing more accessible to European companies; make the EU a safer place for individuals to save and invest long-term; and integrate national capital markets into a genuine single market. One of these actions is to support the provision of credit to European companies - in particular SMEs - through an improved securitisation market.

North America
Brean Capital has formed Brean Real Estate Solutions (BRES), a commercial real estate special servicing platform to serve the CMBS, real estate structured products, non-performing loan and real estate owned (REO) marketplace. Industry veterans Julie Madnick, Henry Bieber and Linda Sanchez have all joined the firm as mds reporting to Christopher Tognola, head of Brean real estate debt strategies.

Bieber has additionally been named head of BRES special servicing and surveillance, while Sanchez becomes head of BRES operations. The former was previously head of loan servicing at 3650 REIT and the latter was previously head of special servicing operations at SitusAMC. Madnick was previously a portfolio manager and strategy head for CMBS at Ares Management. 

BRES is actively engaged in obtaining special servicer ratings and anticipates being rated by year-end.

Toorak Capital Partners has appointed Carole Mortensen and Ketan Parekh as mds. The former has additionally been named head of credit and the latter head of business development and capital markets. Mortensen was previously managing principal at M1 Strategic Advisors, while Parekh joins Toorak from Invictus Capital Partners, where he served as md and led the firm’s business-purpose loan operations.