Chris Gavin
Partner
Co-Chair, Structured Finance & Co-Chair, Residential Mortgage Finance and Securitization Practices
Co-Chair of Winston & Strawn’s Structured Finance and Residential Asset Finance and Securitization Practices, Chris is a nationally recognized mortgage securitization and finance partner.
Key Matters
Some of the experience represented below may have been handled at a previous firm.
- Represented PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust through its subsidiary, PennyMac Corp. and a newly formed special purpose entity, PMT ISSUER TRUST—FMSR, on an innovative capital markets finance transaction that allows PMC to finance its Fannie Mae mortgage servicing rights and excess servicing spread relating to such MSRs through the private offering of secured term notes in an aggregate principal amount of $450 million by the Issuer Trust.
- Represented PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. through three of its subsidiaries, PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, Private National Mortgage Acceptance Company, LLC, and a newly formed special purpose entity, PNMAC GMSR ISSUER TRUST, on a novel capital markets finance transaction that allows PLS to finance its Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights and excess servicing spread relating to such MSRs through the private offering of secured term notes in an aggregate principal amount of $400 million by the Issuer Trust.
- Represented PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. and its affiliates on amendments to its Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights securitization program to permit servicing advance financing. The structure enhancement will provide PFSI enhanced liquidity to directly support its servicing advance obligations to Ginnie Mae as necessary and enable the company to better afford borrowers critical relief as required under the recently enacted CARES Act.
- Represented Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO) and wholly owned subsidiary Matrix Financial Services Corporation in Matrix’s definitive agreement to acquire RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation from Freedom Mortgage Corporation.
- Represented Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Capital Inc. in establishing what is believed to be the first collateralized commercial paper program.
- Represented Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in the sale of a portfolio of distressed construction and commercial real estate loans to a newly created joint venture that is majority owned by a limited liability company created by Goldman Sachs and Caribbean Property Group and financed in part by seller financing.
- Represented Banco Popular North America in connection with the sale of a portfolio of nonperforming mortgage loans, including in setting the bid process and negotiating the sale and purchase agreement and the interim servicing arrangements.
- Advised BRAC, a not-for-profit microfinance and developmental organization in Bangladesh, on a syndicated credit facility. $63 million was raised from several international lending groups, including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), to develop microfinance lending operations in Tanzania, Uganda and Southern Sudan.
- Represented a major U.S.-based monoline insurance company in its purchase of one of its competitors. The transaction included a series of protection arrangements provided by the seller that were structured as swap agreements to protect the client from exposure to the purchased monoline’s guaranteed investment contact business. The seller’s obligations under these protection arrangements were guaranteed in part by the two major European governments.
- Represented the arrangers and initial purchasers in the resecuritization of approximately $4.7 billion of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) for a major U.S. financial institution. The underlying collateral consisted of approximately 350 US RMBS from 350 different underlying transactions. The deal assisted the financial institution to further strengthen its balance sheet by significantly reducing its remaining exposure to the US residential real estate market.
- Represented a Panamanian issuer in connection with what is believed to be the first Latin American cross-border covered bond, which was supported by residential mortgage loans. Deal was named 2012 “Structured Financing Deal of the Year” by LatinFinance.
- Represented Popular, Inc. in an agreement to sell $1.2 billion in loan and servicing assets of its U.S. mortgage subsidiary, Popular Financial Holdings, to various affiliates of a leading financial services firm.
- Represented a potential hedge fund investor in the creation of a novel structure for a distressed financial institution that would have included a joint venture for the purchase of distressed residential mortgage loans and REO and a significant Tier I investment and warrants in the institution.
- Represented the initial purchaser in two Peso 1 billion+ securitizations of construction loans for low- and middle-income residential properties in Mexico, originated by two different Mexican finance companies.
- Represented the arranger in structuring a US$330 million variable funded note warehouse facility with a partial credit guarantee from OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation).
- Represented a lender in connection with a significant loan secured by forward sales of crude oil by a national oil company in northern Africa.
- Represented the purchaser of US$194 million of CRPAOs (payment obligations of the Government of Peru) issued to the concessionaire for the Tramo 1 section of the IIRSA Sur toll road project in Peru.
- Structured and negotiated multiple residential mortgage and home equity loan securitization transactions issuing both public and private securities, including REMIC, non-REMIC and Re-REMIC structures.
- Structured and negotiated several cross-border mortgage loan securitization transactions, including transactions issuing publicly registered asset-backed securities.
- Structured and negotiated numerous novel warehouse financing vehicles for mortgage loan originators.
- Represented significant industry group in connection with its comment letter on the recently re-proposed risk retention rules.