Case Study for Credit Team
Case Study for Credit
Written by: Georgie Mernagh
Our client is a $1.5 trillion US Private Equity and Private Credit fund. They already had an established $10bn US Direct Lending business and were looking to hire a Head of Private Debt to launch the European strategy.
Our relationship with the Global Head of Private Equity & Private Debt was initiated during our numerous trips to NYC. Before the pandemic, they were discussing plans for the European build out which focused on a core direct lending strategy of privately originated loans to sponsor-backed middle market companies.
We built a strong rapport with the Global Head of Private Equity & Private Credit who trusted our judgement and agreed to meeting a couple of senior investment professionals who we knew from our network.
At this point during the pandemic, the only option was to meet virtually so we introduced 3 high profile candidates in the market whom we already had a prior relationship with. This was integral for our client to gain an insight into the European market and how their competitors were already operating. Our client was impressed with the breadth and quality of the talent pool as well as our speed of delivery in connecting them with best-in-class talent.
Although they were unable to ‘pull the trigger’ on the Head of European Private Debt hire straight away, due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, they approached us again in 2021 we kicked off the search in the summer.
We initially presented a full market map of the most relevant European direct lending business leaders who we already knew through our network plus those who had been strongly recommended to us. Our established senior relationships within the space meant we were able to deliver on this within 2 weeks.
We narrowed it down to a shortlist of 10 candidates to meet our client. In this search, most people were happy and embedded within the team so we spent time considering how to present this search in a way which resonated with potential candidates.
As it was a senior search, most people were tied in with complex carry structures and had long non-competes so from the outset we were upfront about this with our client alongside an assessment of realistically how ‘moveable’ this person was.
It was important that both the client and candidate were on the same page around compensation, especially given it was a new business so required some creativity about long-term incentives. Given our extensive track record of senior hires, we were able to advise both sides on compensation which was integral during the offer negotiations.
Our client was extremely impressed with how we managed this search and on the back of this, we were also mandated to find a COO for the direct lending business who would help build the structure of the fund.
