Rachel McGovern
The London-based credit investment manager is edging towards final close on a number of funds.
New partner Jean Pierre Mustier joins from a senior role at UniCredit and is former head of Société Générale’s investment banking unit.
The partnership is the first commitment by a European bank to lend via a marketplace lending platform.
Managers of credit strategies will have to add value and make savvy investments as market liquidity, in part driven by their own fundraising success, threatens to compress the illiquidity premium in 2015.
Business lending platforms Assetz Capital and Funding Circle say the partnership will raise awareness of alternative lending options among small businesses.
The mid-market leveraged deal was backed by a €120m loan from a club of European banks and subordinated bonds provided by new shareholder, Euromezzanine.
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The partnership will allow UK-based secured business lender, Assetz to charge its growth.
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Scotland's Highland Council Pension Fund is seeking a whole loan strategy with preference given to UK-focused managers.
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Non-bank lender activity in the PE-backed financing space increased in 2014, research by Altium shows.
The firm is seeking to replicate the German model in Western Europe and will launch that fund in the second half of this year.