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efta-efta01394829DOJ Data Set 10CorrespondenceEFTA Document EFTA01394829
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EFTA DisclosureText extracted via OCR from the original document. May contain errors from the scanning process.
Reputational Risk Memorandum — CAF — NAVARRO
1. Sponsorship and referral
Business Division(s) involved: DB Private Wealth Management
Global Unit Sponsor: Fabrizio Campelli
Unit Sponsor: Patrick Campion
Deal Sponsor (MD minimum): Joanne Jensen
Committee/Unit, requesting referral:
Principal business contacts: Joanne Jensen, Jessica Wilbur
2. Statement of matter
There are three points to be considered by the CAF:
1) Sherman Financial Group — RDC alert, 5/2014 — Press release from NY State Attorney
General detailing a settlement due to filing debt collection actions outside of the required
statute of limitations, $175K (see "RDC Sherman_NY" attached)
2) Resurgent Capital — Article found in internet search, 7/11/2012 — Baltimore Business
Journal article detailing a voluntary settlement between Resurgent Capital and the
Maryland State Collection Agency regarding debt collection cases, $1MM (see
"Article_Resurgent BBS" attached)
3) Resurgent Capital - RDC alerts and research — included 2 settled court cases, which are
due to the nature of the entity's business, distressed consumer debt:
•
NY, 2013 - Resurgent pays $50K for mortgage license violation and agrees to
get/stay in compliance with state laws (see "RDC Resurgent NY" attached)
• AZ, 2014 - Resurgent pays 595K for a disclosure violation on license renewal
applications and a mislabelled trust account and agrees to get/stay in compliance
with state laws (see "RDC Resurgent AZ" attached)
3. Rationale for referral
Research was run on all relevant parties and generated most of the aforementioned material.
Given the timely nature of the subject transaction (detailed in point 7), we flagged these points to
Andrew Gallivan and Kim Hart and a CAF meeting was recommended.
4. Statement of support
We confirm that Andrew Gallivan has reviewed the financial and non-financial risks of the
transaction, including the reputational risks, and supports proceeding with the transaction.
5. Impact
DBAG, DBTCA
1 The term Unit collectively refers to Business Divisions, Infrastructure Functions and Regional
Management at all levels.
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EFTA01394829
6. Details of the proposed action or transaction
The proposed transaction is a credit facility of up to $500MM, to finance the acquisition of a 60%
stake in the Carolina Panthers National Football League (NFL) Franchise, preliminary terms and
conditions are as follows:
Lender
DB
Commitment
Borrower
Guarantors /
Pledgors
Maturity
Repayments
Sale Proceeds
Security
Comps and
Margin
Calculation
Covenants
Reporting
Covenants
Deutsche Bank AG, NY & JP Morgan
Up to $500MM
TBD — Newly formed Holding Company to be 100% owned by Ben Navarro
and affiliates
Ben Navarro & 5 family trusts
5 years
2 Years I/0
Amortization to begin on the second anniversary, and continue on each
anniversary in an amount equal to 20% of the original loan balance
Bullet of $200MM at maturity
Purchase the Carolina Panthers
First priority secured interest of the Pledgor's $4.6B equity interest in Sherman
Financial Group's business assets:
Credit One Bank
$3.9B
Resurgent Capital
$0.5B
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) $0.16
Wharf Real Estate
$0.16
+ Wharf Street Ratings Acquisition, LLC and Fulton Street, LLC (collectively
"the OpCos")
+The liquidating distributions due to the Borrower in the event of a sale of its
ownership in the team
Lending has determined the following companies to be acceptable
comparables to Credit One:
•
Capital One (NYSE: COF)
•
Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF)
•
Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS)
•
Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS)
•
American Express (NYSE: AXP)
On a quarterly basis, Lending will review Credit One against the median P/E
multiple of these comparables and re-adjust the LTV of the collateral,
requesting additional margin be posted if/when necessary.
Guarantor: Minimum Net Worth, Minimum Liquidity, Minimum Liquidity at DB
Borrower: To main 100% ownership of Navarro interest in the Carolina
Panthers at all times. No additional indebtedness.
Credit One : [TBD]
Other Assets: Net Worth, [XX%] decline in eamings
Financial Statements - 45 Days after Quarter End
Audited Financial Statements - 90 Days after Quarter End
TBD Reporting covenants on Guarantor
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EFTA01394830
7. Client details
Navarro Relationship Overview:
•
Joanne Jensen has known Ben Navarro since 1993, when she worked for him on the
Institutional Fixed Income Sales desk at Citi
• In 2008, Joanne provided Ben with $440MM for the acquisition MGIC and Radian's
interest in Sherman
• In 2013, Joanne introduce Ben to DB WM client Jules Kroll as a potential investor in Kroll
Bond Rating Agency (KBRA). Ben acquired a 10% interest in the company. In 2015,
Deutsche Bank advised Kroll on the sale of his remaining stake in KBRA, which Ben
acquired for $320MM.
Client Background:
• Ben Navarro is the Founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group ("SFG").
• Prior to SFG, he was the Co-Head of Mortgage Sales and Trading for Citicorp, with
responsibility for the firm's purchases, securitizations, and sales of residential mortgages
to institutional clients
•
Top 10 salesperson on Wall Street, focused on credit-sensitive assets
• Navarro spent three years with Goldman Sachs on the Whole Loan and Agency MBS
desks
•
Started his career at Chemical Bank, where he completed the credit-training program and
spent two years issuing loans to mortgage banks and thrifts
• Active philanthropist, establishing a $90MM foundation for education related endeavours
• Prominent member of the Charleston community, funding three schools in the area and
residing on the board of the Medical University of South Carolina
Sherman Financial Group:
•
The nation's largest privately held consumer finance company, generating over $2B in
revenue in 2017
• Major underlying companies are: Credit One Bank, Resurgent Capital Services, Kroll
Bond Rating Agency, and a small Real Estate business (not included in this transaction):
Credit One Bank:
•
OCC-regulated national bank, issues and services near-prime credit cards, operates
under a CEBA charter (no bank holding company treatment)
• "Highly (OCC) rated institution" with no Matters Requiring Attention (MRA)s in the past 8
years
•
Credit One has been extraordinarily successful, generating $956.9MM pre-tax earnings
in 2017 and an estimated $1.1B and $1.2B in 2018 and 2019, respectively. JP Morgan
recently valued them at $1.1B.
• 9,^ largest MasterCard/Visa issuer, with over 9 million customers, portfolio totalling
approximately $5.8B
•
The Bank exclusively originates and services the portfolio, then sells it at par to a SPV
under Sherman's ownership
•
The company employs low leverage, with a Debt/Equity of 2.1x, which is below 2.4x of
comparable public companies
Resurgent Capital Partners
• Resurgent is a CFPB-regulated purchaser of distressed consumer debt. They have
spent $5.8B purchasing over $280B of distressed consumer debt, and have generated
cash recoveries of $12.6B.
• In 2017, Resurgent saw revenues of $515MM and pre-tax eamings of $109MM
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EFTA01394831
KBRA
•
One of 10 Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs) and one of
only 5 fully licensed in all rating categories
• Navarro purchased KBRA in 2015. Since acquisition the company has expanded its
areas of ratings and increased revenue 30%
• Has issued 9,000+ ratings to date, rating over $775BN in bond issuance
•
Currently expanding internationally into Europe and Canada
• 2017 Revenue of $93MM and EBITDA of $13MM, no debt
Wharf RE
•
Opportunistic real estate investment entity, with assets in Delaware, Florida and Ireland
• Partners with experienced operators and developers to pursue opportunistic acquisition
of off-market real estate assets
•
Value is currently estimated to be $410MM, with a cost basis of $250MM
• Property is all owned outright, without the use of debt
8. Reputational risk(s) identified
1) Sherman Financial Group — RDC alert re: NY Settlement
•
On 5/9/2014 SFG settled with the NY Attorney General on what were considered
improper debt collection actions, given they were filed with the courts outside of
the required statute of limitations.
• In NY state debt collectors are required to file default judgements subject to the
statute of limitations in the state where the credit accrual occurred (i.e. if it
occurred in DE, statute is 3 years, while NY is 6 — the shorter statute governs)
• In April 2010 - NY Court of Appeals reaffirmed the required compliance with
these statutes. Per the article SFG complied from then on, but still proceeded
with the approximate 400 judgements obtained prior to.
•
Settlement terms mainly included: vacating the 400 improper judgements, paying
civil/state penalties of $175K and making key enhancements to their debt
collection practices in NY (namely updating disclosures).
2) Resurgent Capital — Baltimore Business Journal article found in internet search
•
On 7/11/2012 the Baltimore Business Journal published an article detailing a
voluntary settlement reached between Resurgent Capital Services, LP and the
Maryland State Collection Agency.
•
The agreement resolved allegations that Resurgent had violated fed and state
debt collection laws — however did not constitute an admission of guilt, rather the
company cooperated and denied any liability and wrongdoing.
• Resurgent, and a second company paid $1MM penalty, exited the 3,600 subject
cases and agreed to give $3.8MM in credits to 6,200 cases already concluded.
3) Resurgent Capital - RDC alerts and research — included 2 settled court cases due to the
nature of the entity's business:
• NY — Resurgent pays $50K for mortgage license violation and agrees to get/stay
in compliance with state laws, 2013
• AZ — Resurgent pays $95K for a disclosure violation on license renewal
applications and a mislabelled trust account and agrees to get/stay in compliance
with state laws, 2014
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EFTA01394832
9. Mitigating factor(s)
Sherman Financial Group
1) RDC alert re: NY Settlement
Mitigants:
•
On 3/6/2018, Navarro confirmed to MD Joanne Jensen that everything has been
settled for this case — fines are paid, subject cases were exited accordingly and
they continue to comply with the enhancements required by the courts.
•
400 cases is minimal in scale/impact in comparison to the overall debt managed
by SFG and its underlying entities. SFG has purchased over 50MM cases.
•
Navarro also confirmed that he was unaware that the 400 cases were still being
pursued following the 2010 reaffirmation.
Resurgent Capital
Resurgent Mitigants:
•
Resurgent contracts out all debt collection to debt collection agencies. They can
terminate them if they are not upholding their legal/compliance standards.
•
Resurgent retains:
o A group of approximately 30 compliance officers, whose job it is to
monitor state and federal regulations. Per Navarro — this is an advantage
that most competitors do not have given the expense.
0 A group specifically designated to monitor and address all customer
complaints
•
We also note that Resurgent and Credit One Bank are completely separate
entities. While Credit One does sell delinquent accounts, Resurgent must
compete to win this business.
2) Baltimore Business Journal article found in intemet search, 7/11/2012
Mitigants:
•
On 3/6/2018, Navarro confirmed to MD Joanne Jensen that at the onset of
Resurgent's debt collection in MD, they had written a letter to the state inquiring
as to whether a certain license to collect debt was required. They received a
retum letter from the state saying that they did not. However when Navarro's
attorneys referenced the letter in the subject court case it was thrown out by the
judge, who stated that they should have been aware regardless.
•
As referenced above — this case did not constitute any admission of guilt, but
rather was an 'agreement," likely involving the aforementioned circumstance.
•
Navarro also confirmed that everything has been settled for this case as well —
fine was paid and relevant debt-collection cases were exited.
3) Resurgent Capital — RDC Alerts and Research
•
Both alerts for cases are settled over three years ago, and are due to the normal
course of Resurgent's business. The company paid fairly minimal fees and is in
compliance with NY and AZ state laws.
Relationship Mitigants:
•
As detailed above, Navarro has had a storied career and is a very public, upstanding
figure, in both business and community
•
Ben Navarro has been vetted and approved by the NFL to bid for the team
•
The majority of Navarro's businesses are heavily monitored, i.e. Credit One, KBRA
•
Sherman and its entities have upheld the requirements to continue to hold the
aforementioned bond licenses for KBRA
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EFTA01394833
10.
Business rationale
Given the mitigants detailed herein, Joanne Jensen's 25+ year relationship with Navarro, and
his pristine reputation, we feel comfortable proceeding with the potential client and the
proposed transaction.
11.
Internal processes
Compliance - Research has been run on all of the OpCos and Navarro. Results produced
minimal FircosofURDC hits, which are all detailed herein. Full KYC will be
completed/approved and research will be run on the trusts ahead of the close of this
transaction.
For internal use only
EFTA01394834
Appendix — Feedback from Subject Matter Experts
For internal use only
EFTA01394835
Forum Discussions
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