The Structured Credit Interview
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Quantifi considers
Quantifi founder Q&A on 20th anniversary of firm
Quantifi, the provider of risk, analytics and trading solutions, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Founder and ceo Rohan Douglas started the firm from his attic in New Jersey in 2002, after prior senior credit derivatives research positions at Citigroup and Salomon.
Structured credit has been at the heart of what Quantifi does and SCI caught up with Rohan to talk about the changes .......
The Structured Credit Interview 24 June 2022
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Goodbye and good luck
Steve Gandy, md at Santander, reflects on a 30-year career in securitisation ahead of his retirement
Asked about the day after his forthcoming retirement, Steve Gandy, md at Santander, mildly remarks that a ‘’friend will take us out for curry, including my grandson. I’m then off to Germany to see my daughter and then back to the UK, where we will sell the house and head for the US.’’
Gandy’s unremarkable statements draw a .......
The Structured Credit Interview 14 June 2022
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Thoughtful approach
Olivier Renault, md, head of risk sharing strategy at Pember...
Q: You joined Pemberton at the beginning of December to establish the firm’s new risk sharing strategy (SCI 1 December 2021). Can you provide some background to this move?
The Structured Credit Interview 21 March 2022
A: The aim of the risk sharing strategy is to leverage Pemberton’s strengths: we have significant origination and credit capabilities, with eight offices across Europe. Although the strategy is global .......
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Choice offering
Rob Reynolds, md and head of CLOs at Pemberton Asset Managem...
Q: You joined Pemberton earlier this month (SCI 1 March). Can you provide an overview of the firm and the new CLO platform?
The Structured Credit Interview 17 March 2022
A: Pemberton was founded in 2013 by our managing partner Symon Drake-Brockman, who is still leading the business. At the time, the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008 led banks to prioritise investment-grade loans and shrink .......
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Team building
Brian Roelke, president and cio of Kuvare Insurance Services, answers SCI's questions
Q: What were the motivations behind the launch of Kuvare Insurance Services’ new third-party asset management business (SCI 8 February)?
The Structured Credit Interview 2 March 2022
A: Unlike a lot of entrants into this space, Kuvare Insurance Services (KIS) started as an insurance-focused asset manager, as all of our activities today are focused on our affiliated insurance balance sheets. The announcement of the new platform signifies .......
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Emulating efforts
Jim Wiant, ceo, partner and portfolio manager of Capital Four US, answers SCI's questions
Q: Capital Four launched its first US CLO last year. What were the motivations behind expanding into the US market?
The Structured Credit Interview 8 February 2022
A: If you look at Capital Four’s history and its path to growth, since 2007 the firm has meaningfully extended its investment capabilities beyond just European high yield. The firm now covers a wider range of investment capabilities in Europe – having broadened .......
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Multi-family moves
SitusAMC Insights speaks up on the US multi-family market
Senior director and head of SitusAMC Insights Peter Muoio and svp Jennifer Rasmussen give their views on the multi-family scene and CMBS market heading into 2022
Q. What is the current picture in the multi-family MBS market and how do you expect it to look in 2022?
PM: The apartment market is in good shape fundamentally with strong investor interest. Investors see .......
The Structured Credit Interview 27 January 2022
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Continued commitments
Derek Dubois, md and treasurer at Deerpath Capital Management, answers SCI's questions
Q: How does Deerpath differentiate itself from its competitors in the lower middle market?
The Structured Credit Interview 20 January 2022
A: Deerpath Capital has been around for a number of years. It was founded in 2007 and we’ve always been focused on lower middle market US secured debt as our investment strategy. The lower middle market offers a nice dynamic for investors; it’s a little less .......
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SME mission
Alain Godard, EIF chief executive, discusses Europe's post-C...
Q: What are the ways in which the EIF utilises securitisation to further its mission?
A: Central to the EIF’s mandate is, of course, our support to SMEs across Europe. There are naturally many ways or various instruments to achieve that, including securitisation.By facilitating the execution of securitisation transactions, we provide guarantees to banks and financial institutions, allowing .......
The Structured Credit Interview 19 January 2022
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Rising star
Gordon Neilly, executive chairman at WhiteStar Asset Management, answers SCI's questions
Q: Gordon, what are your expectations for WhiteStar as it expands further into the European CLO space?
A: So, this is our entry point into the European CLO space. If you look at the industry today, not only is the European CLO market far less developed than the US CLO market, it’s also quite fragmented with about 50 players in the European .......
The Structured Credit Interview 4 January 2022
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Exploiting inefficiencies
Jay Huang, md and head of structured credit investments at CIFC, answers SCI's questions
Q: How has investor perception changed around CLOs, given the resiliency of the asset class in 2021?
The Structured Credit Interview 8 December 2021
A: Three years ago, when I was visiting investors, I would have to bring up the resiliency of the CLO product. However, I have noticed a trend that when I come into investor meetings now, they are bringing up the resilience of the .......
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US expansion
John Fraser, the new chairman of Tikehau's global structured...
Q: Tikehau Capital launched its first US CLO in August. Could you explain the motivations for doing so?
The Structured Credit Interview 22 November 2021
A: Establishing a presence in the US CLO market is a key part of Tikehau Capital’s growth plans for its credit platform. The firm is already active in Europe with five CLOs outstanding and, with significant plans for future growth, it’s a natural extension .......
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Market movers
Leading agency MBS buyer talks taper, inflation and origination
While the encroach of inflationary pressures and the Fed taper will be important factors to consider, the dominant fundamental influence upon MBS in the medium term will be supply, says Brendan Doucette, portfolio manager for GW&K.
Doucette manages an agency MBS portfolio valued at $1.5bn at the end of Q3 2021, up from $1.2bn at yearend 2020. GW&K has over $48bn assets .......
The Structured Credit Interview 9 November 2021
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Transitional financing
Adam Zausmer, chief credit officer at Ready Capital, answers SCI's questions
Q: Why do you feel the US CRE CLO sector is booming?
The Structured Credit Interview 14 October 2021
A: The bridge lending market is certainly red hot at the moment. We tend to focus on less volatile assets, like multifamily, and clear trends we see across the US are tired properties in need of capital expenditure as well as a shortage of quality affordable housing. Non-bank .......
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CLOs and beyond
Don Young, partner and co-founder of CBAM Partners, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did you become involved in the CLO market?
My partner Mike Damaso and I have been managing CLOs since 2001. I first became involved in the space when I joined Octagon Credit investors. After this, I went on to manage the Performing Credit business at Och-Ziff, which included US$7.5bn of CLOs. Mike has over 20 years of .......
The Structured Credit Interview 20 September 2021
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Equity ownership
Dan Norman, md at Lakemore Partners, discusses his plans to...
Q: Tell us about your new role at Lakemore Partners (SCI 4 August)?
The Structured Credit Interview 12 August 2021
A: I joined the team in March this year and I am very happy to be part of Lakemore’s global expansion. We are in the process of building a US business and the primary steps are to build a US and global product distribution system for .......
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Angel eyes
Angel Oak Capital Advisors' Sam Dunlap talks value in non-agency MBS
Atlanta-based Angel Oak Capital Advisors’ flagship multi-strategy income fund (ANGLX), this year celebrates its 10-year anniversary. The ANGLX is a dedicated structured credit mutual fund, focussing chiefly on US non-agency residential MBS, and was launched after the Financial Crisis of 2007/2008. In the last decade, ANGLX has achieved average annualised returns of 5.66%, as of 6/30/21, and now has approximately $7bn .......
The Structured Credit Interview 20 July 2021
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Volatility hedge
Bart Bakx, head of ABS and mortgages at NN Investment Partne...
Q: Do you believe private credit will take on a more significant role in investor portfolios in 2021? If so, which factors are driving this forward?
The Structured Credit Interview 25 June 2021
A: We see that many investors are undertaking searches and these are increasing towards private credit. Looking for opportunities to allocate, investors seek alternatives in the private market space in view of continued volatility .......
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New moves
Rob McDonough, director of ESG and regulatory initiatives at...
1./Can you provide more detail on the framework you developed to quantify the deal’s social impact at the loan level?
The core strategy underpinning the formation of Angel Oak’s Non-QM mortgage lending operations in 2011 was to address the material social inequities caused by the tightening of mortgage underwriting standards under the Dodd-Frank Act and other legislation in the aftermath of the .......
The Structured Credit Interview 4 June 2021
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Niche exposure
CFE Finance business development manager Duccio Duranti and...
Q: How and when did CFE Finance become involved in the securitisation market?
The Structured Credit Interview 7 May 2021
DD: CFE Finance was founded by Mario Cordoni in 2001 to support the trade of commercial transactions both to and from emerging markets, including pre-export finance and export credit agency (ECA) financing. As a metals trader, Mario often faced credit risk exposure when dealing with emerging market .......
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Democratising data
Stephane Michel, senior portfolio manager at the internation...
Q: How does Federated Hermes integrate ESG in its CLO business?
The Structured Credit Interview 27 April 2021
A: CLOs are still very much a universe where we are trying to build an analytical framework that is comparable to what our equity colleagues have been able to do for much longer, due to the provision of data that we haven’t got. That’s the challenge for ESG across .......