American Capital Access is said to be building a collateralized loan obligation business and has brought on board Vincent Ingato, formerly the co-head of leveraged finance at The Mizuho Corporate Bank, to lead the charge. One head of sales at an investment bank said Ingato has been at ACA for about a month and has not yet hired a team.
Ingato is credited with establishing Mizuho's leveraged loan asset management business,Mountain Capital. He left Mizuho last October together with John Oberle, who was responsible for investment banking relationship management (LMW, 10/26). Atsushi Narikawa, who was co-head with Ingato, but became sole head of the group, said at the time that the departures related to a restructuring and that the two left by mutual consent.
ACA entered the CDO business in 2001. The firm has since launched three cash flow CDOs of asset-backed securities and has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. ACA also manages CDOs collateralized by investment-grade credit default swaps.
Amid plans to raise $125 million in an IPO, ACA has been going through a turbulent time. Maryam Muessel, chief operating officer and collateral manager, recently departed the firm as did Michael Satz, the ceo. But the firm has brought on board William Tomljanovic from Prudential Securities, where he was responsible for originating and structuring CDOs. He will assume responsibility for all of ACA's structured finance business. ACA is currently in a quiet period ahead of an initial public offering. Ingato and Tomljanovic did not return calls and other officials at the firm declined comment.