Debtwire Asia Pacific Forum 2023
The Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong SAR & Online
10
Oct
A realistic look at direct lending in APAC
APAC’s direct lending market is on a growth path that many expect will follow the trajectories of the US and European markets. But given the widely differing legal systems, the dominance of bank lending in the region, as well other unique factors, the growth of direct lending is very uneven in APAC. Where the opportunities exist, increasing competition to lend may lead to less robust loan structures and decreasing returns on investments. Moreover, amid rising interest rates, and an increase in defaults as well as some questionable valuation practices, there is concern the direct lending asset class could deliver less than stellar returns.
- How have private lending funds fared in China, especially those that have exposures to the real estate sector?
- How are LPs able to monitor their investments given the opacity in loan valuations?
- How well equipped are direct lenders to deal with distressed situations, especially in an environment where defaults are on the rise?
- Which jurisdictions offer the best better risk/rewards, and which are the worst?
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SpeakersScott Reid Head of Debt Capital Markets, Asia Pacific ALTER DOMUS
Ryan Chung Managing Director and Head of Principal Investment HUATAI INTERNATIONAL
Justin Ferrier Managing Partner-Navis Private Credit NAVIS
Celia Yan Head of APAC Private Credit BLACKROCK
Ben Zhu Director MUZINICH & CO
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Scott previously served as Director, Asset Servicing at Madison Pacific Trust Limited where he focused on servicing private credit managers dealing with a broad range of debt capital market transactions. Scott also served as Regional Managing Director and Head of Business Development for international trustee companies including Harney’s Fiduciary and Appleby Fiduciary.
Scott has experience in a variety of debt capital markets transactions including: private credit, structured credit, medium term notes (MTN), bonds (high yield and investment grade), alternative credit deals, securitization, collateralized loan obligations (CLO) and derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDS), complex workouts and restructurings.
Scott has been based in Hong Kong and Shanghai since 2007 working in asset servicing, trustee and legal roles. He is a qualified Australian lawyer and chartered secretary and speaks fluent Mandarin and can read and write Chinese to a professional standard. Scott graduated from the University of Newcastle with two Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Law. He is working on a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance Law from the University of Melbourne and hopes to graduate later this year. Scott also joined Harvard Business School’s General Management Program (GMP 24) back in 2018.
Ryan Chung is the head and founder of Huatai International’s private credit investment arm and manages fund portfolio of over US$1.5 billion in AUM. Ryan has over 20 years of experience in secured private debt, quasi-debt and private equity investments. He was responsible for an aggregate of US$2.3 billion private capital investments throughout the Asia region across 12 countries.
Prior to Huatai, Ryan was a founding partner of the semi-sovereign China-ASEAN Investment Fund specializing in private equity investments in the ASEAN region. He has also served at the investment banking team of UBS and structured financing team of Citi. Prior to that, Ryan was a Chartered Civil Engineer in the U.K. and Hong Kong. He earned two master degrees in Civil Engineering and in Finance from Imperial College London and Cass Business School London respectively.
Mr. Ferrier is a Managing Partner of Navis Private Credit. Mr. Ferrier has more than 30 years of experience, which includes more than 20 years as a credit investor, portfolio manager and business leader.
Previously he was a Managing Director at BlackRock where he played a pivotal role in building BlackRock’s Asian-Pacific Private Credit business, growing AUM to $700m and developing a successful regional strategy focusing on Southeast Asia and Australia.
Prior to BlackRock, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myo Capital. The fund delivered 14% gross returns. Prior to Myo Capital he was a Director / Investment Committee Member with ADM Capital and a Corporate Finance Executive with Peregrine Capital and SG Warburg Group.
Mr. Ferrier holds an MBA, majoring in Finance and Accounting from Monash University and a Bachelor in Science from the University of South Australia.
Celia Yan, Managing Director, is the Head of APAC Private Credit within BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group, and is the Lead Portfolio Manager of BlackRock’s APAC Private Credit funds and Chair of the Investment Committee. She is responsible for leading the platform, originating and executing investment opportunities, leading the investment process, and maintaining relationships with key deal sources and intermediaries across APAC. Celia is a member of BlackRock's Private Debt Executive Committee.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2020, Celia was the Head of Greater China with ADM Capital where she joined in 2011. As a senior private credit investor, she led the overall investment strategy and specialized in sourcing and executing private credit investments with Chinese angles, including inbound deals to mainland China and outbound deals across Asia and globally. Prior to that, Celia worked for National Australia Bank in Melbourne, where she advised on investment, performance and risk analysis solutions.
Celia has a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne (Australia), a Master of Applied Econometrics from Monash University (Australia), and is currently pursuing a Finance EMBA with PBCSF, Tsinghua University (China).
Ben joined Muzinich & Co in 2010 and has over 13 years’ experience in Asia debt markets across direct lending, distressed, HY and IG. Previously he worked for HSBC global loans and special situations business, responsible for Private Debt, Syndicated Loan Trading and Special Situations business in Asia Pacific.
Prior to that, he was an investment manager for COWELL & LEE Capital Management, a credit hedge fund based in Hong Kong with a focus on private debt, distressed and special situation opportunities in Asia Pacific.