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Hamish Massie has joined Bridgepoint as a Vice President in the London office.
He will be focusing on Fund Finance as part of the Portfolio Financing & Structuring team within Bridgepoint Credit. Hamish was previously at Bank of Ireland, where he was a Deputy Manager on the Subscription Finance team.
Investec Bank is looking to hire legal counsel to join its market-leading Fund Solutions business in London.
Whether it's a trip to the beach or dip in the pool, a bike ride or hike, or a barbecue with family and friends, we hope everyone in the U.S. has fun plans for the Fourth of July Weekend and a celebration of Independence Day on Tuesday.
Happy 247th birthday to America!
We reported in last week’s edition of Fund Finance Friday on some of the significant themes and topics at the FFA 7th Annual European Fund Finance Symposium. Given the breadth and depth of panel sessions and conversations, we could not do the Symposium justice by attempting to include all of our key take-aways in one article, and so we continue our summary this week.
The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) will stop being published on the basis of panel bank quotes and will be replaced by alternative replacement rates after today. In the spirit of the season, below is the commencement speech I would imagine giving.
M&T Bank is hiring a Relationship Manager for Fund Finance to be based in New York. Candidates should contact Michael Sinclair for additional information.
On Monday, nearly 850 fund finance professionals from all over the world attended the FFA’s 7th Annual European Fund Finance Symposium at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. Discussions touched on areas such as liquidity and pricing, ESG, non-bank lenders and trends in NAV/sublines, as well as diversified collateral and risk management in 2023 and beyond (to name just a few). This week and next, we will summarize some of the key themes that we saw emerge during many of these discussions.
A search of the term “discretion” in virtually any credit agreement will yield numerous results. It is the word or words preceding that result that often is a point of much consternation. Many borrowers prefer the use of “reasonable,” which connotes the idea that an objective standard must be utilized in making a determination and such standard would be applied in a manner that is consistent with the standard a lender employs in exercising rights and remedies with other borrowers and loans of similar structure, size and complexity. Most lenders, on the other hand, favor the use of “sole” or “sole and absolute,” which implies that the lender has the ability to exercise a greater degree of preferential discretion in deciding whether to approve an action (or inaction). Preferences aside, what does this distinction really mean when a contract vests the right to make a determination in a party to that contract? That answer lies in a small body of case law that varies by jurisdiction.
Citizens Financial Group has announced that it has “significantly accelerated” its private banking growth strategy with the addition of approximately 50 new senior private bankers in Boston, Florida, New York and San Francisco.
All of those individuals and teams were formerly with First Republic, including a number of well-known names within the fund finance community. Joining Citizens will be, among others, teams led by Scott Aleali and Jeff Maier in New York and Sam Heshmati and Mike Franks in California.
You can read the full Citizens press release here.