Alantra continues to invest in its FIG business with two senior hires to lead the Firm’s corporate rating and balance sheet advisory offering

Austen Koles-Boudreaux and George Wildmoore join Alantra as senior team members to build the practice

London – Alantra, the independent global mid-market financial services firm, has strengthened its Financial Institutions Group with the hires of Austen Koles-Boudreaux and George Wildmoore to lead the Firm’s corporate rating and balance sheet advisory activities.

Austen brings over 20 years’ experience in Global Capital Markets, having worked, amongst others, as a Financial Advisory Partner at Deloitte, as Head of EMEA Credit Advisory at Morgan Stanley, and in the FIG Credit Advisory team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch before.

George has over 15 years’ experience in Global Capital Markets, having worked, amongst others, as a Financial Advisory Director at Deloitte, in Morgan Stanley’s Credit Advisory and Treasury teams, and in the FIG Credit Advisory team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The additions form part of Alantra’s strategy to create a European FIG team which clients can rely on for strategic advice connected to assets, optimizing capital and funding. In the past two years, Alantra has:

• maintained its market leading position in the area of credit advisory;
• won “Securitization Deal of the year” (B2Holding’s NPL Securitization) in IFLR’s Europe Awards 2023, been named “Advisor of the Year” and won “Transaction of the Year” (transformation of Alpha Bank’s balance sheet – the second largest rated NPE securitization in Europe) in SCI’s NPL Securitization Awards 2022, amongst others;
• invested heavily in its FIG M&A capability (balance sheet light & heavy) team with the addition of JP McGrath (London), Pedro Urresti (Madrid), Adrian Hobcroft (London), and Jake Delaney (London).

Alantra’s FIG advisory team consists of 150 people and has dedicated team members in London, Madrid, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Amsterdam, and Athens. Alantra’s “integrated solution” focus rather than the traditional “product” focused approach to client needs is already capturing the attention of clients operating in the FIG space across Europe. Since 2019, Alantra has completed 250+ transactions worth more than €160bn in the FIG sector.

In the UK, Alantra advised Tandem Bank on its Tier 2 capital raise, acted as sole arranger for Permira’s portfolio company Lowell with the execution of both a UK and a Danish ABS transaction, and advised Secure Trust Bank on its exit from the debt purchase market. In NPL Asset Backed Securities, Alantra has advised, among others, the arrangement of the second ever largest NPL securitization in EMEA for Alpha Bank (€10.8bn) and the very first ever NPL ABS rated securitization in Cyprus. In NPL advisory, Alantra has advised across many transactions including the securitization of a €2.2bn NPL portfolio in Italy.

In addition, Alantra has executed several synthetic securitizations in France, Greece, and Portugal. In FIG M&A, Alantra advised London & Scottish Property Investment Management on their sale to ARA Dunedin, Pollen Street on the sale of Capital Flow to Bunqand, and is currently advising LionTrust on a substantial acquisition in continental Europe. In Credit, Alantra advised AIB on the sale of their UK SME Business to neo bank Allica and acted as co-lead financial advisor to PTSB on its acquisition of Ulster Bank’s ~€7.5bn of retail assets.