Hire for Pemberton NAV team
Pemberton, the London-based fund manager, has appointed Pavol Popp as a portfolio manager for its net asset value financing strategy, which was launched last year.

Popp has more than 23 years’ experience in banking and finance, having established and managed diverse business lines across secured financing, structured credit and financial derivatives structuring, as well as asset and liability management. His responsibilities in the NAV team will include selection, structuring and risk management of investments.

Popp was a managing director at JPMorgan, where he spent 19 years in various leadership roles, including as global co-head of financing solutions and head of EMEA structuring.

Ex-Goldman veteran made president at Star Mountain
Star Mountain Capital, an investment firm focused on small and medium-sized North American businesses, has announced the appointment of George Mattson as president. Mattson has been a long-time investor and senior adviser to the firm and, in the newly created role, will work on all aspects of the firm’s activities including strategy, investment analysis, portfolio management, talent development, investment origination and investor relations.

Mattson boasts a 35-year career. After six years at IBM, he spent 19 years in investment banking including 10 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he formed and co-headed the Global Industrials Group. Mattson worked closely with Goldman Sachs’ merchant bank and other principal investment businesses on equity investment and debt lending opportunities within the broad range of businesses and sectors he covered.

Muzinich boosts UK team
Fund manager Muzinich & Co has appointed Rob Judson to its UK Private Debt team, covering the North of England.

Judson joins from Barclays’ Corporate Banking division, where he was a relationship director responsible for originating new business and supporting the structuring and execution of debt transactions in the technology, media and telecoms sectors.

“Rob is a great addition to the team and reflects our commitment to continuing to invest in the North of England and our wider private debt platform,” said James Adams, director for Muzinich UK Private Debt.

US consumer worries rise on bills and credit card debt
Inflation is taking a toll on US households, with consumer spending significantly exceeding its historical trend relative to disposable income, Fannie Mae found as part of its National Housing Survey in 2022.

Indeed, while the Federal Reserve found that  consumer credit – mostly credit card debt – jumped 17 percent on an annual basis in November, the fastest pace since 1996, the savings rate last autumn plunged to 2.4 percent, a near-record low compared with the more typical 7-9 percent.

In the third quarter of 2022, some 35 percent of respondents were very or somewhat stressed about their ability to make debt payments – primarily credit card debt. That represented an increase of 10 percentage points from the survey in Q2 2020, the last time Fannie Mae asked the question, and was higher than it has been historically.

Consumers’ concerns about affording basic necessities were focused on gas, food and medical care, with more than one-third of respondents in September expecting their ability to pay for those needs will be impacted in the 12 successive months, the survey found.

At the same time, 26 percent of consumers in September expressed concern about making future mortgage or rent payments, increasing from 18 percent in April. At 39 percent, renters were far more worried about making payments than the 22 percent of mortgage holders.

Moreover, a growing percentage of mortgage borrowers reported being stressed about their ability to make debt payments and to save money. Fannie Mae concluded that this suggests that a growing share of current borrowers “may be vulnerable to becoming delinquent on their mortgage payments” if they were to lose their jobs or other income.

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