December / January 2013 Issue

PineBridge Investments managing partner FT Chong believes the lower mid-market offers attractive opportunities away from the ‘crazier’ upper echelons .

Nick Fenn and Paul Shea of UK-based Beechbrook Capital believe the lower mid-market offers compelling advantages to other segments of the European market. Here they explain why.

A new breed of fund is combining the roles played by private equity and traditional lenders in mid-market transactions. Metric Capital Partners founder John Sinik reveals the added value such funds can bring to the table.

Europe’s banks don’t sell, according to the five experts we brought together for a frank exchange in New York recently. So if you’re serious about deploying private debt capital, the US is where the action is. But even there getting things done is hard – the increasingly emboldened banks compete hard for deals, and pricing risk is what everyone is in danger of getting wrong.

Private debt investors face mismatched risk-return profiles and continuing difficulties when enforcing contracts in the PRC in particular.

Enova Energy and SAIC found themselves in a jam when a French commercial bank backed out of a proposed Plainfield, Connecticut biomass facility in 2011. The firms tapped The Carlyle Group’s energy mezzanine team to help them finish the project on time.

Understanding where to capture alpha in private credit funds is a minefield for traditional investors.

The group formerly known as AXA Private Equity has a new name – but what else has changed now it has won its independence? Oliver Smiddy sat down with Olivier Berment, the firm’s head of private debt, to discuss the post-spinout blueprint.

Conditions seem ripe for a shift from equity to debt funds in India. But it’s not as straightforward as it might seem

This month, PDI’s Asian columnist looks at the reasons behind LPs’ general reluctance to commit capital to the region’s private debt funds.