London, 29 April 2019 — Mayer Brown has advised Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) on the first European CMBS of 2019 and the first CMBS to be compliant with the new securitisation regulations, which came into force on 1 January 2019.
The underlying loan was extended to Colony Capital, the global real estate and investment management firm, by BAML in November 2018 and was secured against a portfolio of 206 commercial properties located in France. The issuer, Taurus 2019-1 FR DAC, issued €247.2 million commercial mortgage-backed notes on 11 April 2019 and used the funds to purchase the loan from BAML.
"CMBS activity saw a slowdown at the end of 2018 due to market conditions and uncertainty around regulation. Since then, there has been a return to activity and we are delighted to have advised BAML on the first European CMBS of the year," said David O'Connor, structured finance and securitisation partner at Mayer Brown.
The Mayer Brown team was led by David O'Connor (London) and included Banking & Finance partner François-Régis Gonon (Paris) and associates Eoin Hamill and Jomar Vargas (both London); and Tax Transactions & Consulting partner Ben Fryer and senior associate Kitty Swanson (both London).