Andy Clapham, senior managing director and European head of securitization at Bear Stearns in London, has left the firm. "He will not be replaced in that role," said Yves Leysen, head of debt corporate finance in London and Clapham's former boss. Clapham oversaw collateralized debt obligations, residential mortgage-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities, each of which has its own group head. These businesses "are all running well and do not require an additional layer above them," said Leysen. He declined to provide further detail on the circumstances surrounding Clapham's departure and Clapham, who was reached on his mobile phone, declined comment.
Bear Stearns' CDO business is headed up by Mark Moffat, while Richard Downer runs RMBS. Neither returned calls. There is no head of CMBS at present and Leysen said the firm is looking to hire for this position. He noted CMBS is a big business for Bear Stearns in the U.S. and the bank has been increasing its efforts in Europe. Although the firm has not yet securitized commercial assets in Europe, it has a large portfolio and the business is right on track, emphasized Leysen. Bear has recently made several senior hires for its CMBS team (BW, 2/7).
Clapham joined Bear Stearns as head of European securitization in 2000. He started his finance career at Greenwich NatWest in London, where he spent 13 years, the last seven of which as head of securitization. In between NatWest and Bear Stearns, Clapham spent a little over a year running the principal finance team at Nikko Securities in London. Market participants credit Clapham with helping to launch the European collateralized loan obligation market with Rose Funding in 1996, a $5 billion equivalent CLO noteworthy for the size and quality of the underlying loan pool.
Clapham's departure was first reported last week on BW's Web site (www.bondweek.com).
