Contents

CLOs

SCI In Focus: Infrastructure CLOs to be key in closing global financing gap

As infrastructure financing needs continue to grow, CLO-based securitisations could alleviate banks' exposure pressure while giving smaller investors vital access to a hotly contested market

CLOs will play an important role in the global push to close the infrastructure financing gap, experts suggest. As infrastructure demand broadens, securitisation has emerged as a crucial funding tool and CLOs that pool together a diversified portfolio of these loans are tipped to become a larger of the space moving forward.

Referred to as Infrastructure CLOs, experts explain that these products could be vital technology that can free up capital and provide tailored exposure for investors looking to play in the burgeoning market for infra paper.

This potential growth trajectory for the asset class, still in its relative infancy compared to its BSL and middle market counterparts, was noted as a key takeaway by experts attending the CLO Forum hosted by BNP Paribas in Tokyo in September.

The forum concluded that “substantial infrastructure financing needs on a global basis and the resilience of the asset class could lead to further product growth”.

Using the CLO structure to package up infrastructure debt is not a novel concept, with roughly a dozen deals being done between 1998 and 2008 according to the Journal of Structured Finance.

Orhan Sarayli, md and head of North America, global infrastructure, tells SCI infrastructure CLOs were more niche during this period, addressing institution-specific challenges, whereas sizable growth in the market and wider institutional appetite for the technolgoy have changed this landscape.

"This is a natural evolution in the infrastructure universe to expand [institutions’] ability to provide investors access to all pockets of capital within infrastructure,” he states, adding, "the market is probably going to grow at a consistent ratio because all the tailwinds are there.”

Since 2018, the space has matured with a number of branded specialist firms based in the US and APAC, the two major issuance hubs for infrastructure CLOs globally. In a recent article, Barings estimated the size of the US market at roughly $10bn, compared to the $950bn in BSL volume outstanding.

Compared to broadly syndicated loans, infrastructure loans tend to offer lower volatility due to the defensive nature of the assets, their structural protections, and strong counterparties due to the projects often involving investment grade corporations or government entities.

This makes them “particularly well-suited to securitisation through CLOs”, the article concludes. Bo Trant, client portfolio manager for global CLOs at Barings tells SCI that the CLO structure offers its own benefits to originators looking to securitise infrastructure debt.

Trant states that the structure offers investors access to diversified, actively-infrastructure debt at a range of different risk return profiles.

Although investors can get exposure to infrastructure debt through an separately managed account or through a fund vehicle with direct exposure to the assets, insurance companies or pension funds might have different requirements. With CLOs, however, if you want access to that market but with higher ratings you can invest in the triple-A tranche, or if you are seeking a potentially higher yield, you can get levered exposure through the equity tranche.

Issuance expected to accelerate building on rapid growth

Speaking to SCI, Nicholas Tan, group head of markets & investor services and ceo at Clifford Capital Asset Finance, says that, including $1.5bn in reset transactions, the global infrastructure CLO market has just passed the $12bn mark ﹘ composed of $4.3bn in Asia and roughly $8bn in the US.

“The infrastructure CLO market has grown rapidly over the last few years. Annual issuances between 2017 to 2019 average over $400m per year,” Tan notes. “Since then, the market has continued to pick up steam, with 2024 witnessing the highest issuance on record at $3.3bn. Year to date, we have already seen $2.9bn issued, and with most of Q4 to go, it could be another record year.”

Another active issuer in the APAC infrastructure CLO space is the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation (HKMC), a government owned entity with the goal of using infrastructure-loan backed securities (ILBS) to develop the local debt market and fill the infrastructure financing market gap.

Both Clifford Capital and the HKMC demonstrate how CLO technology is being leveraged to facilitate more investment and drive further infrastructure lending in the region.

The HKMC issued two infrastructure-backed CLOs in 2023 and 2024 whereas Clifford Capital Asset Finance has completed six public issuances since 2018 under its Bayfront Infrastructure Capital (BIC) series.

Tan notes that the time between each issuance has decreased over this period as well as the fact that each print has been larger than the last, demonstrating Clifford Capital’s confidence in the investor appetite for infrastructure CLO paper. Tan adds that moving forward the firm will look to set a pace of two issuances a year, noting the amount of capital estimated to be allocated to the sector in the future is an opportunity for the growth of infrastructure CLOs.

He points that over the next decade, it is estimated the global economy will need to invest US$4.2 trillion a year to bridge the global infrastructure gap.

Tan says: “Securitisation plays an important role here as it helps lenders recycle their capital and liquidity, by offloading and transforming assets into a diversified, rated and credit enhanced format that is attractive to institutional investors, which ends up freeing up spare capacity for these lenders to originate and deploy more into new financings.”

Alleviating exposure pressure, lowering barrier to entry

Sarayli points out that this volume could put exposure pressure on banks, and CLOs may be required to alleviate this strain.

“Take that trillions of capital over a finite base of banks who are already struggling to try and manage their exposure and infrastructure CLOs are probably going to be necessary more and more going forward”.

In a similar vein, Sarayli notes that CLOs can also lower the barrier to entry into a hotly contested market for smaller players who could not compete with larger institutions.

“[Infrastructure CLOs] are going to be the easiest way for institutional investors who cannot play in those markets, and a lot of them can’t, to participate in the infrastructure debt market. It’s going to resolve a lot of the problems people have with infrastructure in that the bulk of the paper is not rated and the bulk of the paper is not liquid,” he explained.

“So now institutions are going to come out with rated tranches that are probably going to be more liquid and certainly offer more diversification than trying to build a portfolio on your own.”

Sean Murdoch, president of Starwood Infrastructure Finance, which accounts for $2bn in infrastructure CLO issuance currently outstanding in the market, compares infrastructure CLOs to middle market CLOs in their ability to give certain investors access to markets they otherwise might not have been able to participate in.

“Infrastructure CLOs have a similar ability to bridge the risk from a more private market to a securities market, which should help it grow in the same way securitisation has given access to bond market investors to lots of fixed income assets,” he tells SCI.

Recent research by Nordic Trustee speaking to private credit executives found almost four fifths expect the ongoing trend of allocators pivoting to fund infrastructure initiatives in the region will increase in the next three years, with 21% predicting a substantial increase.

As such, infrastructure CLOs could be next in line for a similar growth trajectory mirroring that of private credit over the last few years.

Solomon Klappholz

CLOs

CLO warehouse lifecycles extend as investors recalibrate risk

Longer ramp-up periods, greater use of subordinated debt and renewed confidence in Cayman structures emerging

CLO warehouse activity is showing signs of evolution in 2025, with lifecycles stretching and investors repositioning their role in the capital stack, according to the latest CLOser report from the Maples Group. The changes come against a backdrop of record issuance and heightened refinancing momentum in global CLO markets.

The  report documents a “slight lengthening” in warehouse periods this year. For CLOs closing in July 2025, Maples found that the average time from warehouse opening to deal close was around 5.4 months – slightly longer than the historical norm. While the period between pricing and closing remains tight at just over 35 days, about 24% of deals closed within 30 days and nearly 10% within 20 days.

According to James Reeve, head of Cayman Islands structured finance at Maples Group, although the average warehouse duration has edged up, this trend should be viewed in context.

“Durations are not outside the typical range in historical terms,” he tells SCI. “In fact, the data may actually point to improved conditions, where older warehouses that had been slow to ramp up are now gaining traction and proceeding to successful CLO closings. When you look only at warehouses established in 2025, the average duration drops to around 3.5 months, which is rather efficient by historical standards.”

The slight extension suggests that issuers and sponsors are giving themselves more room to navigate volatile credit conditions, syndication challenges and underwriting requirements.

At the same time, the CLOser report highlights a shift in how warehouse investors deploy capital. Some are favouring subordinated debt interests over preference-share equity. Reeve says this change is not a short-term anomaly but a meaningful structural adjustment.

“We believe this is a definite trend,” he notes. “It’s less about investor preference and more about the relative ease of issuing subordinated debt, which is a contractual obligation under Cayman Islands law, compared with preference shares that require additional documentation and regulatory steps.”

The shifts are taking place amid buoyant overall activity. Maples reports that its own warehouse and refi/reset engagements are about 30% higher year-on-year, reflecting robust sponsor appetite.

Across the wider market, the US has already logged more than US$122bn in new CLO issuance across 250 deals by early August, alongside US$129bn of resets and nearly US$59bn of refinancings. The data points to a market where existing deals are being refreshed almost as quickly as new ones are launched.

Jurisdictional preferences are also evolving. Maples notes that Cayman Islands SPVs are increasingly being selected for non-US issuers, reversing a prior migration away from the jurisdiction when it had been placed on the EU’s AML watchlist. Reeve points out the return of US CLO issuers to Cayman reflects both regulatory clarity and market familiarity.

“There’s a great deal of equivalence between the Cayman Islands and Jersey in terms of legal and regulatory regimes,” he says. “But Jersey structures often introduce additional cost and complexity that the US CLO market hasn’t traditionally had to navigate. Once Cayman was removed from the EU AML list following full FATF compliance, it was a natural return to ‘business as usual’ for the US CLO market.”

In the first half of 2025, 57 CLOs listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX), up from 53 in the same period of 2024. Of these, around two-thirds were Cayman issuers (with Delaware co-issuers) and a minority were Jersey or Bermudian, the firm reports.

Yet listing remains selective: only about 16% of new issues and 8% of refis or resets saw at least one tranche listed, with full-stack listings still uncommon. Maples itself has underwritten about 40% of CSX CLO listings this year.

Looking ahead, Reeve sees scope for further innovation in how warehouse facilities are structured.

“One of the most notable developments over the past 12-18 months is the increased appetite for establishing evergreen or permanent financing facilities,” he adds. “These can fund multiple warehouse lines through subsidiary SPVs, offering efficiency gains and greater execution flexibility.”

For the industry, the report underlines three key dynamics shaping CLO warehousing: longer gestation periods, increased reliance on subordinated debt in place of equity and a steady rotation in jurisdictional and listing practices.

Together, these trends highlight how issuers and investors are adapting their approach to manage risk, preserve flexibility and keep pace with an active, refi-driven market cycle.

Ramla Soni

Capital Relief Trades

Asian SRT market expands to new jurisdictions

SRT market update

Investors eye new synthetic securitisation opportunities in expanding Asian markets as two new jurisdictions are expected to see their inaugural transactions. A debut deal in Malaysia is set to close over the coming quarters, with industry sources indicating that the IFC will take on the mezzanine tranche. Another Philippines-based SRT is in early stages of development, signalling further regional adoption. 

SRT activity is expected to pick up in Japan, where new transactions are anticipated in 2026, strengthening Asia’s position as an emerging SRT hub.

Nadezhda Bratanova

Capital Relief Trades

European SRT momentum: French lender completes deal

SRT market update

Natixis has completed a €1bn synthetic securitisation referencing a portfolio of leveraged loans, according to sources familiar with the matter. The transaction was executed as a bilateral deal. The French bank, which reportedly aims to execute at least one SRT transaction per year, continues to position itself as a steady issuer in the European market. 

Elsewhere, Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank is understood to be working on two SRT transactions, underscoring the continued momentum among continental lenders. Together with ongoing activity from regular issuers in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, these developments point to a resilient European pipeline heading into year-end. 

Nadezhda Bratanova

Asset-Backed Finance

NatWest inks debt facility to rural lender backed by BBB

Guarantee enables preferential pricing for agricultural finance specialist

NatWest has provided a £100m senior debt facility to Rural Asset Finance (RAF), a specialist lender to UK farmers and rural SMEs, with backing from the British Business Bank (BBB) under its ENABLE Guarantees programme. Rural Asset Finance is a specialist direct lender to British farmers that helps to fund, diversify and future-proof rural businesses, an area the BBB views as underserved by traditional lenders.

According to Michael Strevens, md at the BBB, the development bank's involvement aims to give SMEs more choice beyond the major high street banks. "We felt that the community of agricultural smaller businesses would benefit from having a reasonably-sized asset finance lender, providing a wider funding choice as a result," he says.

The transaction represents the second deal the development bank has completed in the agricultural sector, as it seeks to support the farming community's transition to low-carbon operations while addressing financing gaps for rural businesses.

The facility will enable RAF to expand its lending to UK farmers and agri-businesses for equipment, vehicles, renewable energy projects and diversification initiatives. "Asset finance is quite helpful because you're borrowing against a piece of equipment. Traditionally, farmers are very relationship-driven, particularly on finance," Strevens notes.

Under the ENABLE Guarantees programme, BBB provides a guarantee covering up to 75% of NatWest's exposure on a pro-rata basis, allowing the high street lender to offer more competitive pricing and terms to RAF. "We provide that 75% guarantee to NatWest, which allows them to provide a facility to Rural Asset Finance in a way they may not have been able to before," says Strevens.

To Matthew Whittle, relationship director at NatWest, the deal represents a great growth opportunity for rural businesses in the country. "The provision of the guarantee alongside the sustainability-linked features help unlock capital, reduce pricing and ultimately increase access to competitive funding for agricultural and rural businesses across the UK."

The transaction was advised by Addleshaw Goddard, with the team led by partner Zoe Connor and managing associate Fiona Luong from the firm's structured finance and securitisation practice. "This transaction is a great example of how public-private collaboration can help deliver targeted, sustainable investment. It was a pleasure to support NatWest on a transaction that aligns with both the bank's ESG priorities and the needs of the UK's rural economy," Connor says.

Farming businesses face mounting pressure to invest in sustainability measures while navigating economic headwinds, with BBB identifying the sector as requiring significant capital to fund the energy transition. "Farming is a generational activity and farmers need investment to make changes," Strevens concludes.

Marina Torres

Capital Relief Trades

World Risk Sharing Summit review

SCI innovates by giving a platform to active LPs in the SRT market

As part of SCI’s World Risk Sharing Summit, a panel of leading institutional investors, focused on the LP perspective, convened for a roundtable discussion. The session revealed that active LPs are planning a significant expansion of their own capital commitment to the asset class, even as they navigate ongoing challenges related to data quality.

The panelists confirmed a major strategic shift, projecting a dramatic increase in their internal capital dedicated to the asset class. One of the institutions noted its current allocation to SRTs stands at approximately US$1bn, but expects this figure to “double, or triple over the foreseeable future.”

For these LPs, SRTs are primarily a specialised structured credit strategy. They are allocated out of a dedicated European structural credit financials bucket and compete for capital against instruments like CLOs and ABLs. The strong growth outlook for the strategy is based on a convergence of three dominant factors: an increased overall allocation to structured credit; a growing allocation to European markets, driven in part by relative value compared to the US; and an equally increasing internal allocation dedicated specifically to SRTs within the structured credit space.

The panel provided a key technical insight into where LPs and investors are currently finding the most attractive risk-adjusted value in the market. One speaker was quoted as suggesting that the mezzanine tranche is currently the “cheapest part of the market.” This observation or preference highlights a willingness to assume exposure to first-loss capital cushions in exchange for higher yields.

However and despite the bullish outlook, the LPs were candid about a key operational hurdle in the market: data quality and inconsistency from bank originators.

The panel noted that the issue is not typically a reflection of poor underwriting by banks, but rather a symptom of disparate IT systems, with internal bank platforms “not talking to each other,” which often results in inconsistent data for investors. The panelists emphasised that for sophisticated institutional investors, this data challenge is manageable through dedicated resources and deep partnership.

The LPs view the data inconsistency not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for skilled institutional investors to generate differentiated returns. One speaker noted that their institution dedicates significant internal resources to collaborating with banks to analyse and standardise the data. In “99% of the cases,” this intensive due diligence work ultimately translates into “better pricing for the bank eventually,” as the LP's validated analysis allows for a more accurate risk assessment and greater comfort with the underlying loan portfolios.

In discussing what is inhibiting faster market growth, one panelist highlighted a key structural deficiency: many banks fail to adopt a scalable strategy. The comment was made that many banks do not take enough of a “programmatic approach” to SRT issuance. Overall, the core message to the market was clear: the capital is available and growing, but LPs are (unsurprisingly) looking for banks that recognise and are willing to partner on the necessity of robust, transparent, and consistent data.

Vincent Nadeau

End-Investor Roundtable  was part of SCI's World Risk Sharing Week 2025; an annual series of five diverse events attended by over 700 market participants. If you’d like to consider attending any upcoming SCI events, you can view our 2026 event calendar here.  

Capital Relief Trades

Targeted amendments to EU securitisation capital rules

Risk Control paper introduces technical fixes to the European Commission's June 2025 proposals.

The European Commission’s June proposal was, as we noted at the time, “incrementally positive.” The introduction of the 5% Risk-Weight Floor (RWF) for resilient STS senior tranches on low-RWA assets was widely regarded as a genuine game-changer, promising 65–75% CET1 relief for IRB mortgage pools (a dormant asset class until now).

Reflecting on the proposal at the time, Georges Duponcheele, senior credit pm at Great Lakes Insurance SE, stated that “80% of the work has been done... there is still 20% to be done via amendments to make the proposal work.”

That 20% roadmap has perhaps now arrived and materialised with the paper, Making the Bank Securitisation Capital Rules Work for Europe. It provides the targeted technical fixes necessary to ensure the new framework delivers on its potential for bank issuance and real-economy financing.

The focus of these amendments is twofold: fixing the calibration inconsistencies and ensuring the market for “resilient positions” is not unduly restricted.

Regarding potential improvements, the new Risk Control paper directly addresses the fact that the RWF calibration (e.g., the 10% factor for non-resilient STS) might be insufficient to steer the market towards resilient STS transactions. On this topic, the authors propose two major amendments to the RWF calculation:

1. Simplify the RWF Scale Variable: Currently, the risk-sensitive RWF is tied to complex, bank-specific pool capital requirements (KIRB) or default-inclusive (KA). The paper suggests replacing this with the simpler, more stable Standardised Approach (SA) capital without the defaults (KSA). This change aims to improve the level playing field across EU Member States and between banks that use different calculation models (IRB vs. SA).

2. Enhance Incentives through Consistent Calibration: The paper calls for adjusting the RWF scalars and absolute floors to ensure a smooth, risk-sensitive hierarchy. In practical terms, this means making certain that the Risk Weight for resilient transactions is always materially lower than for Non-resilient ones, and STS transactions are lower than Non-STS ones, thereby enforcing the desired market steering. Without these changes, inconsistencies could adversely affect the policy objective of shaping the market.

While the June proposal introduced the “resilient position” concept to identify senior tranches with low model and agency risk, granting them preferential capital treatment, the paper identifies critical technical flaws in the proposed definition that risk making the market generally “investor unfriendly.” 

To ensure a deep, liquid, and well-supported securitisation market, the paper proposes three crucial adjustments to the “resilient position” criteria and market access: 

The most significant hurdle identified is the rule that limits the 'resilient' status for non-STS securitisations only to positions held by the Originator/Sponsor. This regulatory barrier effectively excludes third-party bank investors from achieving the capital benefits of 'resilient' status in this crucial market segment. The paper argues this restriction is both inconsistent and unnecessary, proposing that banks acting as investors should also be able to hold a resilient non-STS position. Without this fix, a substantial portion of potential investor demand for traditional transactions would be suppressed.

The additional adjustments include ensuring the participation of (re)insurers to provide credit protection in the resilient STS SRT market and a proposal to set a single, harmonised attachment point for all banks at AP=1.5×KA (where KA is the Average Capital Requirement for the pool, inclusive of defaults). Such change should in turn foster consistency and a level playing field towards an efficient cross-border SRT market.

Fundamentally, those technical adjustments establish clear capital relief incentives for originators and remove unintended structural barriers for investors, ensuring the broader new framework acts as a powerful catalyst to boost securitisation activity.

Vincent Nadeau

Asset-Backed Finance

European ABF Forum 2025: Insurers, partnerships and the push for pragmatism

Insurers emerge as key buyers as Europe's ABF market eyes clearer standards and a clearer path forward

SCI’s inaugural European ABF Conference on Monday (13^th October) was packed with discussion, centering on the growing role of insurance investors and the potential they bring to the European ABF ecosystem. 

At the heart of the debate was a familiar tension: Europe is a market full of opportunity, but also complexity. Panellists were quick to flag ongoing challenges around deal structures, potential conflicts of interest in originations and ESG expectations – particularly in areas touching consumer credit and financial distress. 

The opening panel began with perhaps the sector’s longest-standing issue: defining ABF itself. In a market filled with jargon and misconceptions, panellists agreed that ABF was ultimately about the real economy – but unlike direct lending, ABF is also about granularity. With short WALs and low correlation to corporate credit cycles, ABF was described as a resilient alternative to direct lending. Jeffrey Griffiths, global head of private credit at Campbell Lutyens, noted that he preferred asset-backed deals because “you’re close to a physical asset,” drawing a line between asset-backed and asset-based – a distinction the panel agreed on. 

Speakers also emphasised that ABF’s success depends increasingly on the combination of banks’ strong relationships and funds’ agility. Collaboration between the two camps is growing, with more tie-ups emerging as the market evolves. Natalia Joubrina, head of financial institutions solutions as Intesa Sanpaolo, described this as the “perfect mix.” 

Insurers: Europe’s missing piece 

A recurring focal point of the day was the role of insurers – and the need for them to play the same part in Europe as they already do in the US if the market is to scale. 

Europe of course remains behind the US, but panellists agreed that the seeds of growth have been sown and that the green shoots now visible are real. Insurance investors, they argued, could accelerate this momentum. “Insurers are the natural buyers for ABF,” one speaker said. While insurers have not historically played a large role in European ABF, they have long been instrumental in the US market. 

However, Solvency II continues to steer European insurers towards corporate direct lending, limiting their involvement in ABF. Joubrina argued that corporate direct lending “is not real-economy investment” and that EU regulation needs to catch up. “For the European market to grow, it will be on the back of pension funds – to even come close, in a small way, to matching the growth seen in the US,” she said. 

Several speakers also called for greater standardisation. Despite ABF’s bespoke nature, Richard Hanson a partner at law firm Simpson Thacher and Bartlett questioned whether some structures are “needlessly complex” and “elegant on paper but not in practice.” 

In the US, roughly half of the lending market now comes from non-bank lenders, compared with around a quarter in Europe. That imbalance, panellists warned, needs to narrow if Europe is to accelerate growth. “Europe is at least two to five years behind the US,” one observed. 

Joubrina noted that while dozens of platforms launch each year, only a handful become profitable in the near term. Real-economy-linked ABF, she said, is scalable – but many entrants underestimate its operational demands.

Neil Hepworth, head of European loan portfolios and structured credit at AB CarVal, agreed, adding that most non-bank lenders are fintechs or start-ups with small teams, often venturing into regulated asset classes that demand significant due-diligence resources. “Banks have built-in teams to handle regulated assets; non-bank lenders don’t,” he said. Governance, they agreed, remains an issue to watch. Joubrina urged such platforms to “focus on what they do best – innovation.” 

Hepworth pointed to recent US bankruptcies as proof of ABF’s resilience. “You’ll see the asset-based lending bits recover far better than the term loans,” he said. “That will show ABF’s capability and potential to the world.” 

Speakers agreed that operating in Europe remains harder work than in the US, given the market’s reliance on long-term relationships – particularly in southern Europe. “It’s all about finding the right partnerships,” one said. 

Financing structures and fund finance 

The ABF Toolkit session explored financing structures, contrasting forward-flow arrangements with warehouse financing. One panellist emphasised the benefits of multiple funding sources, citing stability and diversity as core strengths that help investors weather volatility. “With ABF you can adapt investments,” one said. “They’re not fixed like public deals – it’s a partnership you’re building up.” 

On the regional perspectives panel, speakers noted that while the US market remains larger and more established, Europe’s dependence on bank funding continues to define its landscape. Asia, meanwhile, was highlighted as a potential leapfrog region, with fintech-led innovation in the Gulf signalling the next frontier for fund finance. 

NAV and sub-lines 

In the spotlight on Fund Finance session, sub-lines emerged as a dominant theme. Panellists discussed their short duration, large asset bases and strategic role in maintaining institutional relationships. Greater flexibility, they agreed, is crucial for fund managers navigating shifting liquidity conditions. 

“The appetite for lending is there – the question is for what product,” said AJ Storton, partner at Art Capital. Back-leverage facilities remained attractive, though regulatory conditions could shift activity back towards direct lending if volatility persists. Hybrid deals blending NAV and sub-line features were cited as among the hardest to structure. 

Calls for standardisation resurfaced in this session. “It’s the wild west when it comes to terms and structures across different markets and regulations,” AJ said. “We can do better. For a healthy, functioning market, we need some lender convergence – and I think it will happen organically.” 

Douglas Charleston, co-head of ABS at TwentyFour Asset Management, echoed the importance of finding long-term partners across the market, including insurers and non-conforming asset buyers. Mustafa Dincer, founder of MD Advisers, pointed to ABS as consistently strong performers. 

Digital assets and diversification 

The conversation also turned to emerging asset classes. Panellists reflected humorously on early-2000s fears about digital obsolescence, noting how data centres have become a core institutional asset class. “Data centres are more ABS than CMBS,” one speaker observed – an early surprise that has proven ideal for insurance buyers seeking stable, cash-flowing assets. 

Speakers also pointed to the growing appeal of sectors such as wine and spirits, music royalties, solar ABS and EV charging. They cautioned, however, that the US solar ABS market has underperformed expectations, with defaults higher than anticipated. By contrast, Europe’s prime segment – exemplified by Enpal – has delivered strong results, offering a more hopeful trajectory. Even so, many agreed that structured finance tools have sometimes made transactions overly complex. Direct lending, they admitted, remains easier – but ABF continues to gain credibility and momentum. 

The path ahead 

The day closed with a preview of the week’s Synthetic Risk Transfer discussions. Forward-flows were described as a potential gateway to SRT, with Frank Benhamou, risk transfer portfolio manager at Cheyne Capital, viewing ABF and private credit as “complementary strategies – if not a gateway to SRT itself.” 

Across every session, one theme persisted: the balance between innovation and pragmatism. The evolution of ABF, participants agreed, will depend on partnerships, regulation and gradual standardisation. As the forum concluded, the message was clear – ABF’s strength lies not in reinvention, but in refinement, linking investors ever closer to the real economy, one granular deal at a time. 

European ABF Forum 2025 was part of SCI's World Risk Sharing Week 2025; an annual series of five diverse events attended by over 700 market participants. If you’d like to consider attending any upcoming SCI events, you can view our 2026 event calendar here.   

Marina Torres and Claudia Lewis

Asset-Backed Finance

Pemberton's push into NAV financing

Partner Thomas Doyle answers SCI's questions

Pemberton Asset Management recently closed its debut NAV Financing Core Fund I at US$1.7bn, marking a milestone in its expansion into strategic lending solutions. The firm, which has built strong relationships across Europe's sponsor-backed lending market, is now leveraging that connectivity to offer portfolio-level financing and GP-level capital solutions.

Talking to SCI, Thomas Doyle, partner and head of NAV financing & GP solutions at Pemberton, discusses the strategic rationale behind launching these new strategies, the competitive advantages that enabled the firm's entry into the market and why the use cases for NAV financing have risen over the past two years.

Q: What’s behind the decision to launch this NAV financing strategy recently? 
A: We’ve seen an uptick in terms of LP investor demand – institutional demand from pension plans, insurance companies, etc. In private credit, all things on the investment side have to start with investor demand.

At Pemberton, we had been going six or seven years, and had built a strong following from large institutional clients who see us as a trusted counterparty. We started off our business with direct lending and developed three different strategies in that space.

I think investors said: "We like you; we like what you're doing - what else is there relevant that you could be doing for us?” NAV financing and GP solutions is very much a natural evolution of our direct lending business.

Q: What is the advantage of entering the NAV financing and GP solutions space as a next step from direct lending?
A: By adding NAV financing and GP solutions to our offering, first of all, we create more products that our customers can trust us with. But equally, we are more relevant to the underlying GP, to the private equity sponsor.

While direct lending allows us to finance individual portfolio companies, NAV financing allows us to optimise them at the portfolio level, and GP solutions means we can be relevant to them at their balance sheet level. So, you can really capture a ‘wider relevance wallet’ for GPs.

Q: What competitive advantages allowed Pemberton to enter this market and differentiate itself from others?
A: Pemberton is slightly unique. First of all, there's not a lot of players in this space - so we benefited from early-mover advantage. Second, through our direct lending platform we already had a natural connectivity with around 200 sponsors. We were a tested, proven counterparty for them for multiple years.

That credibility meant we could go back to sponsors and say, "We’re a trusted financing partner - let us do more for you."

Q: Did you find any barriers in entering this new space? How did you overcome them?
A: There are lots of barriers to entry in our space. The first is scale – to be relevant in this market you have to be able to raise significant capital. A US$100m fund simply isn’t relevant to the private equity community.

Second, beyond capital raising, you need relationships – do you have clients to speak to? Do you know clients? Can you deploy it? Can you originate conversations?  Few firms have the depth of engagement and connectivity we do.

Third, you must be able to underwrite the risk.  When we’re doing our due diligence for direct lending, we've looked at more than 4,000 companies in the sponsor-backed market in Europe. So, then when it gets up into the portfolio level for our NAV loans, we've seen many of those companies, we've seen many of those sectors, we've analysed them. That provides us with an edge when underwriting.

I think the fourth one – I really think it's very important – is that we're independent. Many of our competitors and peers out there, both existing and newcomers, don't have that same level of independence that we have. We're not owned by private equity, we don't have a loan to own, we have no competing area or sphere of conflict with our clients.

That neutrality is a powerful differentiator and is, as one of my colleagues puts it, our ‘right to play’.

Q: Pemberton has also recently expanded to New York with senior hires from Houlihan Lokey and Jefferies. How did that come about and what are the next steps on this expansion?
A: We’ve always been a European firm, with our main activities and market in Europe. However, with GP solutions and NAV financing, there are very few relevant players globally. Given the backing from ADIA, the amount of money that we'd raised more generally, and the few global players that are there, we saw an opportunity to be relevant to the GP community in the US.

So why America? Obviously, Europe is still very much a focus for us and accounts for the majority of our transactions. But many of the sponsors we work with operate across both Europe and North America and to serve them properly, you need to be present locally.  Being on the ground in New York ensures we can engage with GPs directly and service their needs.

Marina Torres

Structured Finance

Job swaps weekly: White & Case names new partners for 2026

People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees White & Case has announced a swathe of promotions to partner across multiple regions. Elsewhere, Raymond James has acquired a majority stake in a boutique investment bank, while Värde Partners has made two senior hires on its asset-based finance team.

White & Case has promoted 45 lawyers to its partnership, effective on 1 January 2026. The new partner class includes representatives of 12 of the firm's practices across 20 of its offices in 14 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

Of the new partners, three have securitisation-related experience, including two within the firm’s capital markets practice. Based in Milan, Pietro Magnaghi advises companies and investment banks on debt capital markets transactions, focusing on public investment-grade and high yield issuances, regulatory capital issuances, private placements and liability management transactions. Based in Frankfurt, Claire-Marie Mallad advises on transactional and regulatory matters for a variety of structured finance and debt capital markets transactions.

Meanwhile, Lulama Selele has been named a partner in White & Case’s project development and finance practice. Based in Johannesburg, Selele advises clients on project finance, structured finance and cross-border investments, particularly in the infrastructure, energy and sustainable development sectors.

Meanwhile, Raymond James is set to deepen its capital markets capabilities through the acquisition of a majority stake in boutique investment bank GreensLedge Holdings. Founded in 2008, GreensLedge has built a reputation for excellence combining strategic advisory services with arranging CLOs, rated feeders, CFOs, ABS and debt offerings.

The acquisition formalises a longstanding relationship between the two firms. Raymond James will acquire a majority ownership stake, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group - a trusted GreensLedge partner - will retain a minority interest. The closing of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.

The partnership also opens the door to new synergies across Raymond James’ broader platform, including Raymond James Investment Management, Raymond James Bank, the private capital advisory, financial services and real estate investment banking teams, and the private client group’s ultra-high net-worth offerings. Furthermore, Raymond James will continue to explore collaborative opportunities within capital markets to build on GreensLedge’s strong existing partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group.

GreensLedge is led by managing partners James Kane, Brian Zeitlin, Lesley Goldwasser and Ken Wormser – each bringing decades of capital markets experience and a shared commitment to entrepreneurial thinking and client-focused execution.

Värde Partners has promoted Missy Dolski to partner and global head of asset-based finance (ABF) and hired Jim Lees as md, ABF. These leadership appointments follow the launch of Värde’s Fund Finance platform earlier this year.

In her expanded role, Chicago-based Dolski will oversee Värde’s global ABF strategy, with a focus on middle-market opportunities across commercial and consumer asset classes, as well as fund finance. Lees most recently served as an md on the ABF team at KKR and will be based in Värde’s New York headquarters, where he will lead ABF origination and underwriting for North America. 

Rick Antonoff has joined Chapman and Cutler as a partner in its asset securitisation department and special situations and restructuring group, based in New York. He was previously a partner at Blank Rome, having worked at Clifford Chance, Pillsbury and Paul Weiss before that.

Antonoff has extensive experience representing banks, direct lenders, alternative investment funds, private equity firms, asset managers and other parties in bankruptcy proceedings and out-of-court workouts across diverse asset classes and industries. A significant part of his practice is providing bankruptcy advice and legal opinions, including true sale, true lease and non-consolidation opinions, in structured finance and securitisation transactions.

Fitch Ratings, has hired Belinda Ghetti as head of structured credit alternative products, based in New York. She will report to Derek Miller, head of North America structured credit. In her new role, Ghetti will lead a team of analysts responsible for rating rated note feeders, private credit structures, SRT, and notes issued by hybrid multiasset platforms.

Prior to joining Fitch, Ghetti spent more than two decades at S&P Global Ratings, overseeing ratings for new issuance and surveillance across a wide range of structured credit products. She developed key methodologies and shaped strategic approaches for CLOs, non-traditional ABS, asset-based finance, and SRT transactions, the firm said in a statement.

S&P, in turn, has promoted Sandeep Chana to managing director - structured credit/CLOs, based in London. Chana is promoted from director and has been covering the asset class for the agency for 19 years. 

And finally, Siepe has hired three new senior leaders to focus on its end-to-end product, services and data suite for liquid and private credit managers. Don Nilsson is appointed as chief product officer, Daniel Williams as vice president of engineering, and Jerry Sullivan as director.

Nilsson brings over 30 years of experience in developing and delivering solutions for large and complex financial information services software platforms. Before joining Siepe, he served as chief product officer at Addepar, overseeing all aspects of the Addepar platform. Prior to that, he spent over two decades at FactSet Research Systems, most recently as senior vice president.

Williams has more than 25 years of experience building technology platforms for the financial services industry. He joins Siepe after spending over two decades in technology focused on the WSO platform, now owned by S&P (fka FCS, IHS Markit).

Sullivan brings over 18 years’ experience across structured finance and capital markets. Before joining Siepe, he was director at Deutsche Bank in the Trust and Agency Services division, where he oversaw sales and business development for investment managers. Prior to this, he worked at BNY Mellon across sales and relationship management covering the structured finance market.

The appointments follow the opening of new offices in Houston, London, Dublin, and Malaysia – strengthening the company’s footprint in key loan and structured finance centers and providing ‘follow-the-sun’ coverage for liquid and private credit managers, the firm says.

Corinne Smith, Ramla Soni