Guggenheim grows mortgage offerings

Guggenheim Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, has expanded its fixed income offerings with the launch of a ‘whole loan’ group.

Guggenheim Capital Markets, the fixed income broker-dealer subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, has added a whole loan group in a move expanding its specialized fixed income offerings.

The whole loan group will research, source and price residential loan products including: first and second lien products, performing, re-performing, sub-performing and non-performing loans, fixed and adjustable rate loans, agency loans and other residential mortgage asset classes. A Guggenheim spokesman declined to comment on the group’s launch.

The group will be led by managing directors Mary Glass-Schannault and Gretchen Verdugo. Verdugo was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer at real estate investment trust Impac Mortgage Holdings.

Glass-Schannault was most recently a senior executive at mortgage lender Opteum Financial. She is credited with developing the original credit philosophy for the first Alt “A” products and helped develop the secondary market for “A” structured finance transactions. Alt “A” is a classification of mortgages where the risk profile falls between prime and subprime.

Guggenheim Capital Markets, based in New York, is a subsidiary of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners. The group trades a wide range of structured fixed-income products, raising debt and private equity for middle market companies and raising capital for private equity funds and hedge funds.