Resource Europe Management is currently warehousing its first collateralized loan obligation and is expected to price the deal in the first quarter of 2007. Led by Credit Suisse, the CLO will consist primarily of euro-denominated assets, but may have a small bucket for sterling- and dollar-denominated assets as well. The actual size and name of the portfolio could not be determined. Christopher Allen, senior managing director who oversees the U.S. and European loan businesses, declined to comment about the product.
Resource Europe Management, a Resource America business, launched earlier this year and now has five employees and will be adding two more in the coming months. The firm previously had a small London operation, but was not investing in leveraged loans.
It had been contemplating involvement in the European loan market, however, for a number of years and talked to a number of parties about different strategic options before deciding at the end of 2004 to develop its own European platform, Allen said. It had also considered buying a platform, starting a joint venture with another firm and even had established firms come to them. He declined to comment on specific firms.
While it will interact with Apidos Capital Management a Resource America operation that invests in loans in the U.S. it is expected to be a freestanding operation. "The philosophy is to have a freestanding team over there with people who have a lot of experience in the loan market and have made investment decisions successfully through different credit cycles," Allen explained.
The firm is expected to be a repeat issuer in the European market and the goal is to have between $2-3 billion in assets under management over the next three-to-five years. It will also look to initiate some real estate business in Europe next year, Allen said.
Rob Reynolds was brought on to serve as the chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager of the European business. He is joined by David Stanbrook, senior managing director, Andrew Littell, managing director, Francois Manivel, analyst, and Cecillia Pierantoni, analyst. Jennifer Patrickakos is the head of operations for both the U.S. and European loan businesses.
Reynolds joined from Ahli Bank, formerly the United Bank of Kuwait. He previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he led its leveraged finance team. Stanbrook joined from Sumitomo Trust, where he was head of the leveraged loan department. He previously worked at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was a credit analyst in the credit risk management department. Littell had been working with Resource America for a few years in London before joining Resource Europe Management.
The other hires, whom Allen would not name, consist of a junior employee who will start Dec. 2 and another senior employee who will start in the first half of next year.
As of June 30, Resource America had $10.5 billion of assets under management. Its operations are separated into various operations including, Resource Financial Fund Management which is the holding company for Apidos, which has $1.2 billion in CLOs and warehouse facilities under management as of June 30, Ischus Capital Management, Resource Financial Institutions Group and Resource Credit Partners. It is also the co-manager of Trapeza Capital. Other businesses include: Resource Real Estate, LEAF Financial Corp., Resource Europe and Resource Capital Corp.
