Nomura Securities International is bolstering its asset finance capital markets capability and recently hired Ali Ettehadieh as director to spearhead commercial asset-backed securitization in London. Nitin Bhandari, director in the asset finance group, said Ettehadieh's duties will include running a CMBS lending program as well as one-off CMBS deals and portfolios of CMBS loans. Ettehadieh, who could not be reached for comment, was an associate director in the CMBS team at Bear Stearns in London and was responsible for pricing and structuring the conduit business (BW, 8/23).
Ettehadieh starts at Nomura in mid-November and reports to Bhandari, who was hired in April to build-up the firm's securitization and principal finance capability (BW, 5/3). Bhandari has so far hired Eric Youngblood to focus on securitization of consumer assets such as non-conforming mortgages, and Adam Wilton for whole business securitization (BW, 8/16). Ettehadieh's hire brings the team to four; Bhandari said further hires are in the pipeline.