Hillmark Capital Management, the firm formed by Trust Company of the West's Mark Gold and Loews Corp.'s Hillel Weinberger, is expected to price its first collateralized loan obligation as early as this month. The managers left their respective firms in March to set up this new venture (CIN 2/13). Gold declined to comment about any potential funds.
"[The firm] is focused on bank debt, high-yield bonds, distressed assets and we're looking at the synthetic market through a number of derivative-type structures," Gold said. As first reported on Credit Investment News' Web site last week, Hillmark's first CLO, which has yet to be named, is expected to be about $500 million and led by JPMorgan. It is expected to be a plain vanilla structure with traditional baskets. One market player said he heard the firm has sold most of the equity for the CLO.
The firm is also raising a second CLO, another plain vanilla structure, led by JPMorgan that is expected to also be about $500 million. It will be releasing a smaller credit opportunity fund by the end of the year. Gold, Weinberger and Kevin Cuskley, senior portfolio manager and partner, will be managing the funds.
Gold is the ceo and Weinberger is the chairman of the new firm. Jack Chen, a Moody's Investors Service alumnus, is the chief operating officer. The 15-person team also includes analysts from Goldman Sachs, Toronto Dominion, Credit Suisse and McKinsey & Co., among others.
Gold was a managing director and principal at Crescent Capital Corp. responsible for the firm's senior lending activities when TCW bought Crescent. Before that he worked in Chancellor Capital Management's bank loan group, formerly Citicorp Investment Management. He also worked as an investment banker in the mergers and acquisition group of Morgan Stanley. While at Loews, Weinberger was responsible for below-investment grade assets, including loans and high-yield bonds. Before that he worked at Presidential Life. He also has a background in the workout business.
