UK broker Affinity (Shipping) is making a move on the Oslo ship finance market with the hire of former Nordea global head of syndicated lending Ronny Bjornadal.
While the Richard Fulford-Smith-founded Affinity will not itself seek to become a source of lending, it will act as an an "intermediary", seeking to match clients in shipping and offshore with third-party capital providers, the company said.
"The expansion into finance in Oslo confirms Affinity's ambitions to continue to develop the scope of services to our clients globally," Affinity told clients Wednesday.
As TradeWinds has reported, Bjornadal in April chose to resign from his position as head of global maritime loans for Nordea. The 24-year veteran, a champion of the syndication market when that was booming for shipping, declined to comment on his departure at the time.
"I can tell you, it is fantastic to be back in business," Bjornadal said in a message to TradeWinds today.
"I am extremely excited to join Affinity and to expand the firm's product offering by creating a world leading and relevant provider of flexible and creative capital solutions," for clients, Bjornadal said.
The firm's broad resources provide the ingredients "to build a world finance franchise," Bjornadal said.
Bjornadal was a force in a loan-syndication market that was abundant for shipping in the "super-cycle" boom of the mid-2000s, when true syndications involving a raft of ship lenders often were led by either Nordea or rival DNB.
But following the credit crunch of 2007 and the global financial collapse of 2008, true syndications all but vanished for shipping, with banks showing a preference for bi-lateral or "club" deals.
Bjornadal's experience coordinating the many lending sources would appear to translate easily into the sort of role Affinity seeks as an agent or "middle man" for capital in custom financings for its clients.
"His strong position within the international finance community, his creativity and experience will be valuable for Affinity adding a new and important product which is fully aligned with our strategy to be agile and meeting our clients' needs," Affinity told clients.
