Sector developments and company hires

17Capital has closed its inaugural NAV lending fund with €2.6bn in capital raised, exceeding its €1.5bn target. The 17Capital Credit Fund marks one of the largest debut private credit funds to be raised, and comes as demand for NAV financing continues to rise and is expected to grow from a US$100bn market today to become a US$700bn market by 2030.  €1bn of the fund’s capital has already been spread across seven loans, and an additional €800m syndicated deployed to co-investors. The remaining capital from the fund will be used to offer loans to high-performing private equity managers across Europe and North America.

In other news….

EMEA

Juan Grana is set to join Chorus Capital as md and senior portfolio manager next month. He will also be appointed to the firm’s executive committee. Grana has over 20 years of experience in the credit markets and was most recently md at ArrowMark Partners, where he established the firm’s European office in October 2018. Before that, he worked at Nomura and Credit Suisse within the risk-sharing space.

Dechert has announced the return of Richard Pugh to its finance practice, marking the fifth partner to return in the past four months. Pugh will be based in London and will serve as a commercial real estate and securitisation partner. Pugh re-joins having most recently led Bank of America’s in-house legal team across European commercial real estate finance and securitisation. Pugh holds expertise in CMBS, securitised lending, term ABS issuance and CLOs. The firm hopes Pugh’s expertise will assist the firm in continuing to grow its global finance offering.

Deutsche Bank has named Matthew Williamson European head of ABS capital markets coverage, based in London. Williamson began his career in the firm’s securitised products group in 2000, before moving on to Santander and most recently NAB, where he worked in the European securitisation team.

North America

Brightwood Capital Advisors has announced the further expansion of its team following active investment period with two new senior appointments. Frederick Jelks will join the firm as a director in its risk group, and Chris Halajian returns to the firm to take on the role of director in its underwriting group. Jelks joins from AlixPartners, where he offered turnaround and restructuring services to both debtors and creditors in bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings as a director. Halajian re-joins the firm having previously been with Brightwood as a vp and member of its investment team, and joins from Geode Health where he served as vp of business development and acquisitions. The firm hopes the new hires will help build upon recent momentum and enhance offerings for investors and borrowers.

Guggenheim Partners has appointed John Calabrese as co-head of fixed income sales, based in Fort Lauderdale. He was previously senior md in the structured products group, having joined the firm in September 2005. Before Guggenheim, Calabrese worked in securitisation sales and trading at Friedman Billings Ramsey, Oppenheimer and Lehman Brothers.