BlackRock Taps Mortgage Securitization Vet

BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) added a well-known securitization industry vet to its roster today with the announcement that Craig S. Phillips had joined the company as head of its Financial Markets Advisory group. Phillips will report to Charles S. Hallac, Vice Chairman and head of BlackRock Solutions, the company’s advisory business sub. Phillips will lead a team that works with clients to manage their capital markets exposure and businesses, and assists in managing, restructuring, and valuing portfolios with distressed capital markets exposures. In the past year alone, the company’s advisory business has advised on or managed distressed portfolios totaling more than $150 billion, BlackRock said in a press statement — part of that total, of course, involving none other than Bear Stearns & Cos. “Craig Phillips has been involved in the global asset-based finance markets for more than 30 years and is recognized as a leader in the development of the securitized debt markets,” said Hallac. “We are looking forward to drawing on Craig’s deep asset and risk management expertise as we work to broaden and enhance our firm’s Financial Markets Advisory capabilities.” Phillips was previously a managing member of Ptarmigan Capital LLC, an alternative asset management firm. From 1994 to 2006, he served as a managing director of Morgan Stanley and was the global head of its Securitized Products Group, which conducted lending, securities underwriting and secondary trading activities across the residential mortgage, commercial mortgage, and consumer and commercial asset-backed sectors. He also has been a managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston and co-head of its U.S. Securitization Group. At year-end 2007, BlackRock Solutions was managing 115 distinct assignments for nearly 100 clients, providing services for a well diversified universe of institutional investors including banks, insurance companies, broker dealers, asset managers, hedge funds, pensions, endowments, foundations and other financial institutions. For more information, visit http://www.blackrock.com. Disclosure: The author held no positions in BLK when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.