Luc Mongeon Co-Managing Editor, Asia Pacific DEBTWIRE

Luc has over 20 years of experience as a financial journalist in Asia covering fixed income, credit derivatives and distressed debt markets. He joined Debtwire in 2006 as Managing Editor for the Asia-Pacific region and now is responsible for a team of 14 journalists and five analysts that cover primarily the stressed/distressed debt, high yield and primary debt markets. Luc first started covering distressed debt markets in 1989 as a reporter for IFR in Japan. In 1998 he initiated and developed coverage of the Asian distressed debt markets for IFR Asia.

Joyce Liang Managing Director & Head of Asia Pacific Credit Research BofA Securities

Joyce Liang is Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific Credit Research, and covers Asia Credit Strategy. The Asia Credit Research team ranked No.1 in the Asia ex-Japan credit-related categories in the Global Institutional Investor Surveys of 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017, and has maintained the Top-3 ranking since the survey started. Liang ranked No.1 in Top Strategists and Economists in Asian G3 bonds by Asset for 6 consecutive years since 2018. Her key regular research publications include Asia Credit Survey, Model Portfolio, Monday Morning Ideas, China Onshore Credit Bond Monthly and Asia Credit Strategy. 

Prior to assuming the role of credit strategist in 2016, she was a credit analyst focusing on China high-yield property developers and China state-owned entities. Since joining the firm in 2006, Liang has covered various asset classes, including auto and credit card ABS, RMBS, CMBS, CDO and property derivatives in the non-Japan Asia/Australia structured finance markets. Liang has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from the University of Bath and a Master’s degree in Finance from CASS Business School. She is based in Hong Kong.

Kathleen Aka Partner WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

Kathleen Aka leads Weil’s Asia Restructuring practice. Based in Hong Kong, she has over 20 years of experience advising both debtors and creditors in relation to contentious and non-contentious restructuring and insolvency matters in the Asia-Pacific region. Dually qualified in Hong Kong and New South Wales, Australia, Kathleen is skilled in guiding clients through the most challenging and complex processes of financial restructuring, creditor enforcement, formal insolvency, insolvency litigation, distressed M&A, and distressed secondary debt trading.

Kathleen’s diverse experience and comprehensive skillset straddling both contentious and non-contentious work have earned her recognition as one of the top restructuring lawyers in Asia. Kathleen was named a “Growth Driver” in the 2023-2024 A-List Lawyers by China Business Law Journal, an “Asia Future Leader” by IFLR in 2021, and a “Next Generation Partner” by Legal 500 Asia-Pacific from 2020 to 2024, amongst the others. Kathleen has a reputation for her unique capability in advising a wide range of clients across the full gamut of distressed situations, including bondholders, credit and distressed investment funds, banks, insolvency practitioners, shareholders, and distressed corporations. Her industry experience covers banking and financial services, insurance and reinsurance, health, infrastructure, energy, mining and agriculture, shipping and transportation, retail, and property.

SJ Lim Managing Director, Asia Credit KKR

SJ Lim joined KKR in 2019 and is a Managing Director and Head of Southeast Asia and India Credit. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Lim spent 13 years at Credit Suisse where he was responsible for the private financing business in Southeast Asia, India and Australia, which spanned corporate loans, leveraged finance, structure credit and share financing for corporates and ultra high net worth counterparties. Mr. Lim holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a first class honors in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.

Dr. Sean Chang Co-Chief investment Officer, Fixed Income VALUE PARTNERS

Dr Sean CHANG has 28 years investment and research experience specialized on fixed income.He joined Value Partners in January 2023 as Co-Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income. 

Prior to joining the firm, he was most recently Head of Fixed Income at Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong)Company Limited, where he managed investment accounts for leading institutions and insurance companies with a focus in China investments. Before that, he spent six years with Baring Asset Management (Asia )Limited as Head of Asia Debt Investment specialized in Mainland research strategies and China credit decisions. 

Earlier, he was with Halbis Capital Management (Hong Kong) Limited as Investment Director leading research and portfolio management for five years. Prior to that, he also held different positions with Mira Asset Global Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Hang Seng Investment Management, Invesco Asset Management Asia Limited, HSBC Private Bank, HSBC Asset Management, Bank of Tokyo (Hong Kong)Limited. 

He started his career at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Hong Kong in 1994.Dr Chang graduated from Macquarie University with a Doctor’s degree in Business Administration and obtained a Master’s degree in Finance from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, a Master’s degree in Social Science (Major in Government and Politics of Greater China) and Master’s degree in Law (Major in Chinese Business Law) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Roger Zhang Managing Director-Credit BLACKSTONE

Mr. Zhang is a Managing Director at Blackstone Credit, responsible for origination and execution of credit investments across capital structure in Asia. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Zhang was the Head of Private Debt Asia at Partners Group, responsible for senior and mezzanine debt investments in private equity sponsor-backed companies across Asia-Pacific. Mr. Zhang holds a MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

Jenny Zeng CIO -APAC-Fixed Income ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS

Jenny Zeng is the Chief Investment Officer, Asia-Pacific Fixed Income with Allianz Global Investors based in Hong Kong. Ms. Zeng joined AllianzGI in January 2023 and is responsible for AllianzGI’s fixed Income investments in the region. She is also a member of the firm’s Global Fixed Income Investment Management Committee. Before joining AllianzGI, Ms. Zeng was at AllianceBernstein for more than nine years, serving as Co-Head Asia-Pacific Fixed Income and Responsible Officer. Before that, Ms. Zeng was Credit Sector Specialist with Citigroup for more than 8 years, specialized in high-yield credits. Ms. Zeng  frequently appears in leading international media such as Bloomberg, CNBC and is renowned for her views on macro-economic and credit matters.

Howard Lam Partner LATHAM & WATKINS

Howard Lam, a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Hong Kong office, advises clients across Asia on restructuring, special situations, private credit, and banking finance transactions.

In his restructuring practice, Howard draws on more than two decades of experience to guide all types of parties to a transaction, including creditors, particularly banks and credit funds, debtors, insolvency practitioners and bondholders.

He regularly helps clients resolve a full range of difficult matters, including restructuring, bankruptcy, as well as distressed and other special situations. As a Mandarin and Cantonese speaker, trained in Hong Kong, UK, and Australian law, he brings a multicultural, multijurisdictional perspective to his matters. Familiar with the internal motivations and sensitivities of parties on all sides of a matter, he can help clients choose the best jurisdictions and legal regimes for implementing restructurings.

Most recently, Howard has led a number of high-profile restructuring and leveraged financing transactions, and is recognized as a leading practitioner in this area by Chambers and The Legal 500.

Foster Lee Head of Private Credit GAW CAPITAL

Foster Lee has over 20 years’ experience in direct lending and structured finance across Asia Pacific.

Foster is currently heading the private credit franchise for Gaw Capital and have deployed c. USD1bn since he joined in 2020.

Foster was the head of syndicated finance for China Minsheng Bank and prior to that he worked in multiple direct lending transactions, in particular leveraged finance and assets based lending across Hong Kong, Australia and Japan in GE Capital.

During his banking career, he was on the board of directors of the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association and as a member of the China Committee and the Leveraged & Acquisition Finance Committee of the association.

Foster holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of New South Wales and he is a qualified public accountant of CPA Australia.

Ron Thompson Managing Director ALVAREZ & MARSAL

Ron Thompson is a Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal Asia and leads Asia’s Restructuring Practice. Mr. Thompson is based in Hong Kong.

With close to 30 years of experience in China and Asia, Mr. Thompson brings expertise in finance, credit and restructuring in Asia. Mr. Thompson’s primary expertise lies in financial restructuring and has significant experience acting in the capacity as a creditor, investor and advisor related with in court restructurings and liquidations as well as out of court processes or government influenced restructurings. Mr. Thompson has extensive experience as an investor in sourcing, valuing, acquiring and managing NPL portfolios in addition to having managed the sale process of individual credits as well as non-performing loan portfolios. Mr. Thompson, in the capacity as an investor and as a board member, has participated in multiple operational turnaround situations. Mr. Thompson’s has broad industry expertise including fast moving consumer goods, power generation, metals and mining, construction, manufacturing, telecom and technology and financial institutions.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Thompson was at Standard Chartered where he headed the workout team in Taiwan, worked in the Mezzanine and Alternative Solutions Team for Principle Finance and most recently was the Chief Credit Officer for China. Prior to Standard Chartered, Mr. Thompson worked in corporate finance at Bear Stearns and Bank of China International and oversaw the China business for Clearwater Capital.

Mr. Thompson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colby College, studied Chinese literature at Peking University and holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Mr. Thompson is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Sophia Xia Managing Director, Co-head of China Restructuring HOULIHAN LOKEY

Ms. Xia joined Houlihan Lokey in 2012 and is currently the Co-head of China Restructuring, responsible for deal sourcing, execution and staff management. She has extensive experience advising clients in Asia on restructuring situations, M&A and capital raising across different industries. Her recent transactions include company-side mandates for China Evergrande, Kaisa, Fantasia, Modern Land, Sunac, Tahoe and Luckin Coffee; and creditor-side mandates for Shimao Group, Yestar Healthcare, Sichuan Languang, GCL Energy, Hilong Group, Huachen Energy, China Shanshui Cement, Winsway Enterprises, Bumi Resources, Paladin Energy and Oro Negro. Before joining HL, Ms. Xia was at J.P. Morgan’s investment banking division where she focused on M&A and capital raising. Ms. Xia started her career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York.

 Ms. Xia graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics, and a Certificate in Markets and Management Studies. She is a native speaker of Mandarin and Cantonese and fluent in English.

Ping Zhou Co-Managing Editor, APAC DEBTWIRE

Ping Zhou leads a China journalists team writing distressed and event-driven corporate credits for Asia high yield fix income investors and restructuring advisories, covering both onshore and offshore Chinese restructuring and liquidation situations for Debtwire APAC since 2013. She started her journalist career with Financial Times in 2011 and won SOPA 2012 award in Hong Kong for breaking news on Wukan Guangdong protests. She has Korean literature background and lived in Pyongyang, Seoul, before moving to Hong Kong.

Graham Price Counsel WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

Graham Price is a counsel in Weil’s Banking & Finance practice and based in Hong Kong. Dually qualified in England & Wales and Hong Kong, Graham focuses on both finance and restructuring matters across the Asia-Pacific region. He represents private equity sponsors, private credit funds, major institutional lenders and asset managers on a wide range of finance transactions, including cross-border leveraged financings, restructurings, special situations, direct lending, margin loans, real estate finance and corporate facilities.

Prior to joining Weil, Graham worked at leading international law firms in Hong Kong and London where he also undertook a secondment to Barclays Capital.

Graham’s wide-ranging experience includes representing consortium members and financial sponsors in the financing aspects of the largest landmark take-privates of US-listed Chinese companies in recent years, including 51job.com, 58.com and CAR Inc.. Graham also acted for the ad hoc group of bondholders in relation to the successful restructuring of more than US$7 billion of offshore debt of China Aoyuan Group Limited and its subsidiary, Add Hero, including over $3 billion of offshore bond debt, Noble Group in relation to its restructuring in Hong Kong, Singapore and London, TPG on the multi-jurisdictional restructuring of financial indebtedness and the provision of new money for its investment in Dream Cruises Holding Limited and is currently working on a number of high profile restructuring matters in the Chinese real estate space.

Jocelyn Chi Managing Director KROLL

Jocelyn Chi is a managing director based in the Hong Kong office. She has extensive experience in various forensic, restructuring, insolvency, dispute resolution and investigation assignments throughout Asia including compulsory and voluntary liquidations, IFA, reporting accountant, schemes of arrangement, capital and debt restructurings of private and large publicly listed groups.

Her key experience includes investigating international assets and liabilities, funds flow and assets tracing, analysis of the financial and operational affairs of companies and groups and the associated litigation and professional negligence claims. Jocelyn also has substantial experience in the forensic investigation and valuation of businesses and matrimonial assets in Hong Kong, PRC and overseas, preparation of Form E and Duxbury calculations and associated reports to court.

Jocelyn has been appointed as Administrator of deceased estates including to undertake investigations and take control of assets pending the Court determinations. Jocelyn has facilitated investigation assignments for entities in various industries including scrap metal trading, forestry, cold storage, property investment, freight forwarding and logistics, bullion trading, software development and car rental in Hong Kong, PRC, Singapore and internationally.

John Han Partner KOBRE & KIM

John Han is an international claim monetization strategist who enables clients to achieve business objectives in Hong Kong, the PRC, South and Southeast Asia, and offshore jurisdictions. He has deep experience as lead counsel monetizing claims related to Greater China and India for distressed debt investors in both the non-contentious and contentious contexts.

He regularly advises investors pre-trade, executes special projects to improve restructuring terms, and if required leads global teams on cross-border activist campaigns. He has deep experience penetrating vulnerabilities across complex offshore and onshore holding structures, devising effective strategies focused on decision makers, and executing on strategies in the PRC.

Most recently, he led a successful global strategy to monetize a US $200M credit position that included obtaining conservatory arrest over assets, receivership over offshore holding structures, and having the Chairman of the company held in contempt of court, effectively converting the debt issuer’s liability into a personal liability of the Chairman, among other measures.

His commentaries on distressed scenarios and special situations have been cited in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Financial Times.

Mr. Han is admitted as a Solicitor Advocate in Hong Kong, in the United States, in the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and in the Astana International Financial Centre Court. He obtained his JD from the University of Chicago Law School where he was Executive Editor of the Law Review.

Beaux Pontak Co-Head of Global Financing and Credit Trading (GFCT), Asia Pacific DEUTSCHE BANK

Beaux Pontak is an American national and has lived in Asia for approximately 19 years. He has been with Deutsche Bank for the past 14 years, mostly in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Beaux is currently co-head of GFCT in Asia Pacific and is a member of DB’s Global GFCT Executive Committee. He has broad responsibility for a wide range of public and private credit trading, lending and investment businesses. Beaux also has executive responsibilities in DB’s FIC and Hong Kong branch operations.

Prior to co-heading GFCT in APAC, Beaux’s previous roles at DB included serving as the head of Portfolio Investments for GFCT’s Distressed Products business in APAC, the head of GFCT in Japan, and co-head of GFCT in Asia.

Deutsche Bank's GFCT is a global leader in credit investing, structuring, dealing and investing in credit and other securities, including structured credit, flow credit, commercial real estate, aviation and asset finance, corporate credit, stressed and distressed debt, hybrid credit, local and global currency denominated credit and selected equity investments.

GFCT specializes in taking an active role in its portfolio investments, with dedicated professionals in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai and Manila.

Deutsche Bank in the Asia Pacific region was instrumental in re‐opening credit markets that were closed during the global financial crisis and, more recently, the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Beaux was a Senior Manager in Transaction Advisory with Ernst & Young and had been based in Beijing, Manila, New York and Los Angeles.

Beaux graduated summa cum laude from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a second Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.

Kurkye Wong Executive Director ARGYLE STREET MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Mr Wong is an Executive Director in Argyle Street Management Limited. Mr Wong is specialize in distress and private credit investment in Asia. He previously worked at KPMG and FTI Consulting in Hong Kong. Mr Wong is a Fellow member of the HKICPA. He holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology, a Juris Doctor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a Master course in Financial Engineering from Stanford University.

Ashley Bell Legal Analyst - Asia Pacific DEBTWIRE

Prior to joining Debtwire, Ashley was a Partner at DLA Piper in Hong Kong with a practice focused on contentious cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters. Ashley regularly advised financial institutions, investors, debtors and insolvency practitioners in connection with a range of high-profile restructuring matters in Asia involving schemes of arrangement, contested winding-up proceedings, light-touch offshore proceedings, debtor-in-possession matters and cross-border recognition applications.

Mark Fairbairn Founder FAIRBAIRN & CO

Mark is a Restructuring and Insolvency lawyer who has accomplished over three decades of experience leading some of the most pivotal engagements in China and elsewhere in Asia. Mark has been a partner at leading Hong Kong and International law firms and is recognised as one of the leading practitioners in the region. Mark has been a pioneer in the development of law and practice especially in relation to cross-border assignments and the compromise of public securities through schemes of arrangement. He is recognised as a Senior Statesman by Chambers and was previously ranked in Band 1 by both Chambers and The Legal 500.

Since 2022, Mark has been a sole practitioner and has continued to advise on high profile matters. From November 2024, Mark will join the Restructuring & Insolvency team of Linklaters in Hong Kong. Described by some as a “titan” of the profession, his ability to continue to lead prominent transactions is a testament to his reputation and his delivery of high-quality, technically strong legal services.

Over his career, Mark has advised the liquidators of Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong on novel schemes of arrangement to resolve complicated “waterfall” controversies; the managers and provisional liquidators of HIH Insurance; the main creditor of Legend International Resorts; the foreign bank creditors in the restructuring of SK Global in South Korea; the main creditor and officeholders of Jinro in Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan; the provisional liquidators in the restructuring of FuJi Foods in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands, the Noteholders in the Blue Ocean scheme in Singapore; the officeholders in the restructuring of Luckin Coffee in China and the USA; the bank creditors in the restructuring and Chapter 11 of China Fisheries and most recently the creditors and liquidators of China Properties Group; the receivers of Shandong Ruyi (Lycra); certain Noteholders in the restructuring of Logan Property Group; and the holders of Bonds issued by Kaisa Group in China and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Mark’s extensive track record and technical innovation enables him to navigate complex financial restructurings and insolvency proceedings, providing clients with strategic leverage in challenging situations.

Claire Fulton Partner Mourant Ozannes

Claire is a Partner at Mourant Ozannes (Hong Kong) LLP in our Banking and Finance team. Claire has extensive finance and restructuring experience, advising major financial institutions, creditors, corporations, private equity and hedge funds and insolvency practitioners on a range of transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Claire specialises in advising clients on realising value in distressed situations, including security enforcements, special situations, debt restructurings and voluntary liquidations, and am regularly approached to advise on offshore statutory merger regimes. She has significant experience helping clients on a broad range of banking and finance transactions, including cross-border leveraged buyouts, public-to-private acquisitions, bilateral and syndicated loans, real estate finance and structured finance.

Daniel Margulies Partner Dechert

Daniel Margulies is a partner in Dechert’s financial restructuring practice, concentrating on cross-border restructuring, insolvency and special situations financing matters across Asia. Mr. Margulies has particular experience acting for debtor, creditor, financial institution, private equity and hedge fund clients across Asia, with a focus on South East Asia and has extensive experience working with sponsors on difficult portfolio company situations in emerging markets and finding appropriate solutions to exit such investments.

Tiffany Wong Managing Director Alvarez & Marsal

Tiffany has extensive knowledge and experience in corporate restructuring and dispute resolution in Hong Kong and the PRC. She combines international restructuring regimes with local characteristics of China, and provides professional advises and resolutions to clients for challenging cross-border projects.

Tiffany is an Executive Director of Insol International and member of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform appointed by the Financial Secretary of the government of the HKSA. She has been recognised by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Thought Leader in Restructuring & Insolvency in 2022 and 2023.

Scott Reid Head of Debt Capital Markets, Asia Pacific ALTER DOMUS

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 Managing Director and Head of Principal Investment HUATAI INTERNATIONAL

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.

Justin Ferrier Managing Partner-Navis Private Credit NAVIS

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, Head of APAC Private Credit BLACKROCK

Celia Yan, Managing Director, is the Head of APAC Private Credit within BlackRock 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, managing the investment process, and maintaining relationships with key deal sources and intermediaries across APAC. Celia serves on BlackRock's Global Private Debt Executive Committee and APAC Operating Committee (APOP). 

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), and a Master of Applied Econometrics from Monash University (Australia).

Ben Zhu Director MUZINICH & CO

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.

Ashwin Bishnoi Partner KHAITAN & CO

Ashwin specialises in private credit and special situations including distressed M&A and performing credit. He is routinely called upon to advise on the largest most complex cases such as Jet Airways and Byjus to name a few. He works closely with several funds. He has been closely involved with the evolution of the Indian IBC from reviewing initial versions of the Code to now suggesting on-going changes.  He is a vocal thought leader and writes often and critically on topics of interest to those in this room. Ashwin has nearly two decades of industry experience. He has been a Partner with Khaitan & Co in India since 2014 and previously worked with Skadden in New York and London.

Vishal Goenka Co-Founder IndiaBonds

Vishal is Co-Founder of IndiaBonds – a financial company driven by technology (fintech), creating an investment platform that provides seamless access to fixed income and credit products for investors across India.

Prior to IndiaBonds, he was at Deutsche Bank as Managing Director and Head of Credit for Institutional Clients for APAC – overseeing the entire Credit Flow, Distressed, Loans and Structured Credit businesses. In his first 5 years at Deutsche Bank, Vishal headed the local markets credit trading business for Asia including running the bank’s FPI investments in India.

After working in bond markets in Mumbai for few years, Vishal initiated his international experience at Merrill Lynch in London where he spent 7 years. He started as a credit flow trader and then moved on to help setup the bank’s credit proprietary desk, building trading capabilities around all credit products. Post Merrill Lynch, he has also worked as CEO of a stockbroking firm in Mumbai as well as done a stint at RBS in London. Vishal is an MBA from London Business School

Kanchan Jain CEO BPEA CREDIT

Ms. Kanchan Jain has 30 years of experience in corporate and structured finance, private credit, and loan and debt capital markets across Europe and Asia. She has worked in origination, structuring, underwriting, and risk management. As founder and head of BPEA Credit Group, Ms. Jain is responsible for the overall business across all its investment & non-investment functions. Over the last 11 years, Ms. Jain and the leadership team at BPEA Credit have led the creation and build-out of BPEA Credit into one of Asia's leading private credit management groups, focused on structured debt investments in the mid and large corporate sectors. 

Before moving to India in 2008, Ms. Jain worked for 10 years in London as Managing Director, Co-Head of Structuring at HSBC, and before that as Director at Barclays Capital in the Structured Credit business. Before that, Ms. Jain worked in the Asian debt capital markets across debt syndication, loan trading & risk, based out of Hong Kong and in project finance based out of India. Ms. Jain has lived and worked in India, Asia & the UK and holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from VNIT and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Manish Jain Partner & Head of India ARES

Manish is a Partner at Ares Asia (formerly Ares SSG/ SSG Capital) and heads the India office. He has over 22 years of experience in credit and restructuring. Mr Jain has been instrumental in growing the India business for Ares and is responsible for identifying, underwriting and assisting in the execution of investments across sectors.

Prior to joining SSG, he worked at Clearwater Capital for over 9 years, where he worked on restructuring situations across multiple sectors. He started his career with the International Finance Corporation, where he oversaw investments in the financial services sector in the South Asia region.

Manish holds an M.B.A. from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Gautam Prasad Vice President DEUTSCHE BANK

Gautam joined DB in 2016 and now works as a Vice President at Deutsche Bank’s Strategic Investments Group based out of Hong Kong. He has about 7 years of experience in Secondary Distressed Credit and Special Situations investing across Asia Pacific with a focus on India.

Gautam holds an M.B.A. from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.