Securitization Awards

Architect of 'stock and drop' RMBS scheme has joined the building society's investment arm

Mayer Brown has been a leading law firm in the asset-backed securities space since the market’s inception in the 1980s. Mayer Brown’s decades of experience have allowed it to build a practice with unrivalled expertise, making it the counsel of choice for issuers, underwriters and investors across numerous asset classes. Always at the cutting edge of regulatory developments and market evolution, Mayer Brown is once again GlobalCapital’s ABS Law Firm of the Year.

The rating agency market rankings for securitization in recent years all tell a similar story. Across a range of structured finance products from consumer and small business loans to esoterics, KBRA emerges on top. For the third year in a row, the firm’s breadth of coverage, depth of insight and commitment to quality make it GlobalCapital’s Securitization Rating Agency of the Year.

Community solar has become a powerful force in the shift towards green energy. In 2022, DSD Renewables opened the door to a new source of funding for the industry, becoming the first borrower to issue a securitization backed with a significant concentration of community solar assets. Impressive in terms of innovation and impact, the $155m transaction was a clear winner of GlobalCapital’s ESG Securitization Deal of the Year.

ATLAS SP celebrates its first year under a new name with well deserved wins in several securitization award categories. Exemplary work on multiple successful transactions helped secure the title of Esoteric ABS Bank of the Year. ATLAS SP was also responsible for bringing a groundbreaking community solar-backed deal to market, which GlobalCapital recognised as the best ESG Securitization Deal of 2022.

There was no shortage of innovation across the securitization market in 2022. But even amid strong competition, Newmarket Capital and Banco Santander’s Project Bocarte was a standout transaction. A cutting-edge structure, a focus on sustainability and a commitment to financing the energy transition made the bilateral trade a worthy winner of GlobalCapital’s Most Innovative Deal of the Year.

Jefferies’ second year as a force in Europe's primary CLO market saw the firm secure a second consecutive win for excellence in the asset class. Strong relationships on the buy and sell side, combined with an unparalleled ability to time the market, helped the firm dominate the league tables and earn a well deserved win as CLO Bank of the Year.

Over the course of more than a century, U.S. Bank has built an exceptional corporate trust business. The firm’s strategic acquisitions and dedicated investment in people and technology have made it the partner of choice across the securitization market. Standing head and shoulders above its competitors, the bank was a clear winner in both CLO Trustee of the Year and Securitization Trustee of the Year categories.

Nomura has been a force in the mortgage market for almost a decade. In 2022, its combination of agility, insight and dedication helped the firm to a suite of securitization awards. In addition to winning the coveted RMBS Bank of the Year, Nomura won for its exemplary securitization research and secured two separate awards for its ARMI 2022-1 transaction.

When the 2007-8 crisis hit, appetite for analytics using macro forecasts to project tranche-level impacts across structured finance was fairly limited. There were models that could forecast the performance of residential mortgages, but few issuers or investors saw the need to try to determine how, for example, unemployment might affect a specific RMBS tranche.

Mayer Brown’s strategy is to have genuine strength, depth and expertise across all securitization asset classes. The firm employs over 100 lawyers specializing in structured finance, works on well over 250 deals a year and regularly tops the league tables. This ability to combine comprehensive breadth with deep-seated expertise earned it not one but two awards from the market in 2020: best ABS Law Firm and best RMBS Law Firm.

Golub Capital has won the GlobalCapital 2020 awards for Middle Market CLO Manager of the Year and Middle Market CLO Deal of the Year. These awards continue the firm’s long track record of market leadership in middle market CLOs. They also reflect the power and resilience of Golub Capital’s sponsor finance platform through the Covid-19 crisis. The firm has been the top middle market CLO issuer by volume for the past eight years, according to Creditflux data.