Muzinich make senior hires for private debt platform in Asia-Pacific

Muzinich & Co, a New York-headquartered investment firm, is expanding its presence across the Asia-Pacific region this year.

The firm has appointed Andrew Tan as head of Asia-Pacific private debt, based in Singapore, this month. He was previously head of HSBC’s global loans and special situations, Asia-Pacific where he was responsible for building up the banking group’s private debt business.

Tan is joined by Denis Rayel who will be based in Sydney. Rayel will be responsible for the firm’s private debt activities in Australia and New Zealand and support the firm’s broader Asia-Pacific strategy.

Muzinich opened its Singapore office in 2017, according to a company statement on 8 July.

In January 2019, the firm hired Alexis Ng as country head based in Singapore and managing director for Asia-Pacific. She was tasked with building up Muzinich’s client base and investment capabilities in private debt and corporate credit research. Ng was previously head of distribution, Asia-Pacific at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Elsewhere, the firm held a first close of Muzinich European Senior Secured Private Debt Fund I at €104 million in December 2019, as Private Debt Investor reported. The vehicle has a three-year investment period and a seven-year amortised period.

PDI data shows the senior secured debt fund has a €500 million target and mainly invests in euro-denominated first lien debt issued by small- and mid-sized companies across Europe, excluding the UK.

Muzinich’s private debt platform had $1.9 billion in committed capital and more than $1.1 billion in invested capital as of 30 June.

With the latest hires, the firm’s private debt investment teams are located at least in nine locations: New York, London, Manchester, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Dublin and Singapore.