Sector developments and company hires

Equity boost for Olympus spin-off
Singapore-based direct lender Orion Credit Capital Asia has received an equity investment from OMERS, the pension plan for municipal employees in Ontario, Canada. The move follows last month’s spin-off and rebranding of the business by the management team that spearheaded the private credit efforts of Olympus Capital Asia.

Orion Capital Asia manages investment vehicles that provide medium-term secured loans to middle market businesses that are owned by both private equity sponsors and local entrepreneurs. The investments are across diverse industry sectors and, in many cases, involve bespoke financing solutions spanning multiple jurisdictions.

The investment by OMERS will significantly strengthen Orion Capital Asia’s existing platform and accelerate its growth plans.

In other news…

EMEA
Jonathan Graber has joined SC Lowy’s European distressed debt and special situations trading and investing team in London. He was previously a member of Morgan Stanley’s distressed and special situations trading team.

ILS asset manager established
Gildenbrook Group founder and ceo Daniel Brookman has launched Gildenbrook Capital Management (GCM), an independent ILS fund manager. The firm advises US$850m in institutional assets and focuses on the global life and non-life (re)insurance market.

GCM is one of the three pillars that constitute Gildenbrook, namely an alternative asset manager, a reinsurance platform and a financial technology development firm. The firm has operations located in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Singapore.

Brookman was previously partner and head of alternative capital at AXA XL, which he left in October.

North America
Rebecca Levy has joined CIFC Asset Management as an md in the firm’s investor solutions group. In this new role, Levy will create tailored solutions for clients and develop new institutional relationships. She most recently served as a senior portfolio advisor at Aksia.

Credit Suisse Asset Management has named Kevin Lawi md, portfolio manager and head of origination - private credit, based in New York. He was previously senior director - credit investments at PSP Investments and before that was vp - leveraged finance at Goldman Sachs.

Matthew Downs has joined Greystone as md on the CMBS lending team, reporting to md Robert Russell. Downs will originate CMBS, agency and balance sheet loans for clients nationwide. He joins from MonticelloAM, where he was head of CRE originations.

Origination investment inked
LendInvest has secured a £500m investment from JPMorgan in future mortgage originations, following the sale of a £125m mortgage portfolio to the bank in September. The transaction further expands LendInvest’s capacity to lend in the UK buy-to-let market. JPMorgan joins a growing roster of global financial institutions and institutional investors working with LendInvest, including Citi, HSBC and NAB.