Angelo Gordon announced several executive moves within its structured credit business, which come on the heels of the $73 billion firm’s recent close of its asset-based fund at $1 billion.
The only external hire for the group is David Busker, who joins the structured credit team as head of Commercial Real Estate Debt. Most recently he led commercial real estate strategies and served as a portfolio manager in Tilden Park Capital Management.
Busker will take over for Andy Solomon, who has led Angelo Gordon’s liquid commercial real estate securities investments for 17 years and will be retiring at the end of the year. Solomon will work in an advisory capacity with Busker to ensure a smooth transition.
Marc Lessner and Xavier Dailly, both managing directors at Angelo Gordon, have been appointed co-deputy portfolio managers of the firm’s open-ended structured credit fund. T.J. Durkin, Angelo Gordon’s head of Structured Credit, and Yong Joe, the team’s head of structured credit research, continue to lead the fund as co-portfolio managers.
In the firm’s New York offices, Busker reports to Durkin. He will also work alongside Aaron Ong, a 17-year veteran at the firm who was recently named head of Private Asset Based Credit. Additionally, he will also work closely with Sunil Kothari, who joined Angelo Gordon in 2019 and was just appointed Head of European ABS. Also on the team is Nick Smith, who joined Angelo Gordon in 2021 as head of Residential Mortgages.
“We are pleased to welcome David to Angelo Gordon,” said Durkin. “We believe the CMBS market to be today’s most distressed space across all credit markets. With banks and other legacy owners continuing to shed risk, the combined headwinds of challenging fundamentals and diminished market liquidity support make for an interesting environment for CMBS investors. While we are likely only in the early innings of this cycle, we already see compelling opportunities today and are thrilled to have a professional of David’s caliber leading our efforts to capitalize on them for the benefit of our clients.”
Busker added, “The level of stress in the commercial real estate sector has the potential to create significant opportunities for investors. I am excited to work alongside T.J. and the team and leverage my years of experience investing in the sector to capitalize on the dislocation within the CMBS ecosystem.”
“David’s leadership of our commercial real estate debt efforts, alongside our existing and newly promoted leaders, will help us build on an already well-respected structured credit platform that is positioned to serve the markets and our LPs with opportunities across the entire liquidity spectrum,” said Josh Baumgarten, co-CEO, co-CIO, and head of the firm’s credit business that now totals $55 billion across corporate credit, lending and structured credit strategies.
