Sector developments and company hires

Barrow Hanley Global Investors has closed on its inaugural CLO equity fund – the Barrow Hanley CLO Fund I LP. The fund will be managed by the existing alternative credit team and follows the aims of the firm’s strategic partner, Perpetual Limited, to expand the product offering at Barrow Hanley. Perpetual, alongside employees at Barrow Hanley, have invested 35% of the fund’s equity at closing. Following on from the closing of Barrow Hanley’s first CLO fund, Perpetual expects to issue a number of CLOs over the course of the year.

In other news…

North America

Briarcliffe has appointed Collis Klarberg as md, as the firm seeks to expand its business amid recent growth in the private lending market. The private credit industry veteran will join as a fundraising manager, and will be responsible for leading sales coverage of institutional investors across the Midwest and New England. Klarberg joins from First Avenue Partners where he served as md on its distribution team, having spent more than a decade working on private credit strategies. The placement agency hopes Klarberg’s expertise will help connect investors to the firm’s strategies.

Ropes & Gray has welcomed a new partner to its finance practice in New York, Christopher Poggi. Joining the global law firm’s team of 500 based in New York, Poggi will work alongside partner Patricia Lynch and others on the team that advises on complex financings and securitisations to clients worldwide. Poggi brings more than 20 years of experience in structuring and negotiating different securitisation transactions, with particular interest in whole business securitisations and notes backed by portfolios of intellectual property. Joining the firm from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he served as counsel, the firm hopes Poggi’s expertise will bolster its finance counsel offering to clients.