Dekania Europe Loan Origination
Overview
Dekania Europe is a specialty non-bank lender that provides regulatory capital in the form of subordinated debt to small- and medium-sized European insurance companies and banks that do not have ready access to the capital markets.
Dekania Europe’s flat organizational structure and entrepreneurial culture allow us to structure subordinated debt solutions tailored specifically to the many unique strategies and characteristics of our borrowers. With a team of investment professionals based in both London and a team of financial analysts based in Paris, we have an excellent in-depth knowledge of the insurance and banking industry and have a vast wealth of experience in different countries, jurisdictions, languages and cultural environments. We operate as a cohesive team and our decision-making process is fast, flexible and reliable.
Dekania Europe’s business is originated through an extensive network of financial institutions and reinsurance brokers in every country, with whom we have developed over time a very close, dynamic and fruitful relationship.
All structuring and origination activities for Dekania Europe are carried out by EuroDekania Management Limited, an FSA regulated entity.
Investment Criteria
Dekania Europe invests mainly in European insurance companies and banks that meet the following criteria:
- Good capitalization
- Adequate present and past operating results
- Minimum adjusted capital of €10m
- Strong local franchise
- Experienced management team
We ask a shadow rating on each issuer from S&P, Fitch and/or Moody’s if it does not already have an interactive one.
Origination Activity
In order to access a wide variety of European insurance companies and banks, we have developed a vast network of relationships with originators of collateral in Europe.
We have, thus far, funded insurance companies and banks in the following countries: Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, UK, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Origination Team
Daniel G. Cohen, Chairman, Cohen & Company
Paul Vernhes, Managing Director
Thomas Friedberg, President and Chairman, Dekania Corp.
Toavina Ramamonjiarisoa, Chief Accounting Officer, EuroDekania Management
Erik Woodworth, Director and CEO, EuroDekania Management
Jaime Genovart, Associate
Federico Siviero, Analyst
Ulrich Ebensperger, Analyst
Domenico Sapone, Analyst
Nathalie Ghnassia, Corporate Counsel
Daniel G. Cohen
Mr. Cohen is the Chairman of Cohen & Company and a Director of the Collateral Manager. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Cohen served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Company. Mr. Cohen has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Bancorp, Inc. (a bank holding company, Nasdaq: TBBK) since 2000, and served as Chief Executive Officer for The Bankcorp, Inc. from 1999 to 2000. Mr. Cohen is CEO and a member of the Board of Trustees of RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE:RAS), a provider of secured and unsecured financing to real estate companies, and Chairman of Alesco Financial Inc. (NYSE:AFN), a REIT managed by an affiliate of Cohen & Company. Mr. Cohen holds similar management positions in certain investment advisory subsidiaries and the broker-dealer subsidiary of Cohen & Company. From 2000 until 2006, Mr. Cohen served on the Board of Directors of TRM Corporation (Nasdaq:TRMM), and as its chairman from 2003 until 2006. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Cohen served as an officer of Resource America (NASDAQ "REXI"), serving as its Chief Operating Officer from 1998 to 2000. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Cohen served as an officer of Resource America (NASDAQ "REXI"), serving as its Chief Operating Officer from 1998 to 2000. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Cohen was a director of Jefferson Bank of Pennsylvania, a commercial bank acquired by Hudson United Bancorp in 1999 that grew to U.S.$3.5billion in assets.
Paul Vernhes
Mr. Vernhes is President and Managing Director of Cohen & Compagnie SAS. He has 12 years of insurance experience. Since February 2006, Mr. Vernhes has served as chief financial officer of Dekania Corp. From January 2004 to April 2005, Mr. Vernhes was the chief financial officer of Corifrance, the French reinsurance subsidiary of Markel Corp. Prior to and in addition to Mr. Vernhes' role as chief financial officer, Mr. Vernhes served as a treaty and facultative reinsurance underwriter for Corifrance in Europe and Latin America. Previously, Mr. Vernhes served as a strategy and management consultant to the insurance industry at A.T. Kearney and Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Mr. Vernhes is a graduate of the Ecole de Hautes Etudes Commerciales and holds a M.Sc. in Finance from the London School of Economics. Mr. Vernhes is fluent in French, English and Spanish. He is an officer of EuroDekania Management Limited.
Thomas Friedberg
Mr. Friedberg has over 42 years of experience in a variety of life and property & casualty insurance companies. Currently, he is the President and Chairman of the Board of Dekania Corp., a blank check company listed on the AMEX. Prior to that he was a senior executive focused on troubled companies. He has served as Vice President-Worldwide Automobile Insurance, for AIG from 1971 to 1974; Senior Vice- President-International P&C Operations, for the Hartford Insurance Group from 1976 to 1981; Vice- Chairman and CEO of ITT Life Insurance Company from 1985 to 1987; and President and CEO of Vanliner Insurance Company from 1985 to 1987, Ranger Insurance Companies from 1987 to 1995, ACCEL International Corporation from 1995 to 1998 and Stonington Insurance Company from 1999 to 2004. He attended Western Reserve University where he studied mathematics, and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Toavina Ramamonjiarisoa
Mrs. Ramamonjiarisoa is Chief Accounting Officer at EuroDekania Management Limited. She has 8 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance fields. From January 2000 to September 2003, she worked as financial auditor at the Insurance and Reinsurance Department of the audit firm Mazars. Prior to joining Cohen & Company she served as Consolidation Manager in the Group Controlling Department of COFACE, the world third biggest credit insurance company, and was in charge of the group financial reports. Mrs. Ramamonjiarisoa holds a Master of Business administration from the Sorbonne University in Paris (France), and a Master in Accounting and Financial studies from the Ecole Nouvelle d'Organisation Economique et Sociale in Paris (France). Mrs. Ramamonjiarisoa is fluent in French and in English.
Erik Woodworth
Mr. Woodworth is a Director and CEO of EuroDekania Management Limited in London. Mr. Woodworth has been an analyst and investor in the financial industry since 1994. He first joined Cohen & Company in 2001 as an equity analyst covering banks, finance companies and REITs. In mid 2003, Mr. Woodworth was ranked amongst the top three bank analysts by Starmine Corporation. Since late 2004, he has focused on developing Cohen & Company's CDO activities in Europe. Mr. Woodworth began his career in 1994 at SNL Financial, a leading research and publishing firm focused on the financial industry, where he last served as Director of New Product Development. In addition, he has served as an analyst for Shadwell Capital, a financial stock hedge fund. Mr. Woodworth holds a BA from the University of Virginia and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Mr. Woodworth is fluent in English and French.
Jaime Genovart
Mr. Genovart has served in the European insurance and reinsurance industry for the last 13 years. He has held several positions at ERC Frankona (General Electric's reinsurance subsidiary) in Copenhagen and Paris, Aon Re Iberia in Barcelona, Spain, Sorema (Groupama's former reinsurance company) and most recently at Scor. His main areas of expertise include Non-Life underwriting, claims handling and control. Mr. Genovart holds a Spanish law Degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) as well as a Master in Marine Law from the University of Southampton (U.K). He is a native speaker in Catalan and Spanish, and is also fluent in English and French.
Federico Siviero
Mr. Siviero is an analyst focused on researching and analyzing European financial institutions. Prior to joining EuroDekania Management Limited, he was a junior consultant for Nexen Business Consultants, in Padova, Italy, advising companies in the Italian banking and insurance industries. Mr. Siviero obtained a graduate degree in Economics and Finance, summa cum laude, from Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy, where his final dissertation in applied mathematics was entitled "A Basel II Compliant Multi-criteria Approach to evaluate credit risk". Mr. Siviero is fluent in Italian and English, and has a working knowledge of German.
Ulrich Ebensperger
As an analyst Mr. Ulrich Ebensperger researches and evaluates European insurance companies. Before joining Cohen & Compagnie SAS, he worked as an advisor for asset allocation solutions to institutional clients at AXA Investment managers in Paris, France. Mr Ulrich Ebensperger also worked as an economist at the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development in Savannah, Georgia, where he advised on the feasibility of large investment projects in the Southeastern United States. He holds a B.B.A. from Georgia Southern University and graduated magna cum laude with an M.A. in Economics from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Ulrich Ebensperger is fluent in German, English and French.
Domenico Sapone
Mr. Sapone serves at Cohen & Compagnie, SAS, as an analyst for financial institutions, focusing mainly on European insurance companies. Previously, he worked as an equity capital market analyst for BBVA in Madrid (Spain) and as an equity linked analyst for Société Générale CIB in Paris (France). Mr. Sapone holds a graduate degree in Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Turin (Italy), a Diplôme de Grande Ecole from the ESCP-EAP of Paris (France) and a European Master of Science in Management from the City University of London (UK). He is fluent in Italian, English, French and Spanish.
Nathalie Ghnassia
Ms. Ghnassia joined Cohen & Compagnie SAS in 2005 as corporate counsel. Prior to joining Cohen & Compagnie SAS, from November 2004 to October 2005, Ms. Ghnassia worked as an associate at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw in Chicago, United States of America, in the Banking and Finance Department where she drafted and finalized operative and ancillary banking contracts for various issuers and coordinated closings and post-closings of many CDO transactions. Ms. Ghnassia holds a Bachelor of Business Law and a Master in International Business Law from the Sorbonne (Paris). She is also fluent in French, English and Spanish.
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