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Agenda08.00 - 08.50HKT
Registration and Breakfast
08.50 - 09.00HKT09.00 - 09.30HKT09.30 - 10.15HKTDisruption, dislocation, and early signals
Disruption is no longer theoretical. Artificial intelligence is reshaping business models, liquidity remains uneven, and capital is becoming more selective. Across credit markets, activity remains bifurcated, with primary bond markets facing challenges on different fronts. As the leveraged finance market resets, participants must separate structural change from cyclical noise.
- How are geopolitical dynamics and the conflict in the Middle East reshaping credit markets and risk appetite?
- Which sectors are emerging as resilient opportunities in 2026?
- How is AI-driven disruption reshaping risk assessment in private credit portfolios?
- As China's real estate downturn recedes as the dominant distressed theme, where will the next wave of credit opportunities emerge in China?
10.15 - 10.45HKTNetworking Break
10.45 - 11.30HKTPrivate Credit: The 3 trillion-dollar question
The private credit market is forecasted to reach $3 trillion globally by 2028 and has become a core component of capital markets. It is now facing its first meaningful stress test with higher rates, tighter liquidity, redemption pressure, and increased scrutiny around transparency. The rapid buildout of AI infrastructure, particularly data centres, is driving significant capital demand, and increasing reliance on private capital for funding. This discussion examines where the model holds and the next wave of opportunities.
- How is the market transitioning amid higher rates, tighter liquidity, and macro uncertainty?
- Where are early signs of stress emerging across private credit portfolios?
- How has underwriting discipline evolved in response to market volatility?
- How is the buildout of AI infrastructure and data centres being financed?
- As India and Australia become more challenging, where will private credit funds invest in Asia?
11.30 - 12.15HKTMacro choke: Restructuring and capital solutions
The maturity wall is no longer a future risk; it is unfolding in real time. While high-quality borrowers land smoothly, stressed and high-yield issuers face a refinancing squeeze. Consensual outs-of-court workouts, bespoke liability management exercises, and highly structured "rescue capital" have become the primary lines of defence. This panel will discuss how the market is engineering liquidity, navigating intercreditor conflicts, and rewriting the restructuring playbook in real-time.
- Where are we in the refinancing cycle and how much pain is still ahead?
- Does maturity wall come into play for borrowers and in what form? 
- How are out-of-court workouts and pre-insolvency mediations changing the restructuring playbook? 
- What is the corporate restructuring outlook for 2027?
12.15 - 13.15HKTNetworking Lunch
13.15 - 14.00HKTCreditor relations: Alignment, conflict and control
As capital structures become increasingly complex, alignment among creditors is becoming harder to achieve. Diverging mandates, competing investment strategies, and the growing use of sophisticated liability management tools are creating new sources of tension in distressed situations. As stakeholders seek to protect their positions and maximise recoveries, disputes over value allocation, governance rights, and control can emerge. This panel focuses on how control is asserted, how conflicts are resolved, and what determines outcomes when stakeholders collide.
- How have dynamics between different creditor groups evolved in recent years?
- How are liability management tools used for lenders to regain control? 
- How do you work with restructuring negotiations, intercreditor agreements, and control rights? 
- How well does current intercreditor frameworks work in more complex capital structures?
14.00 - 14.40HKTFireside chat: Seizing the Australian credit opportunity
- How is Australia's credit market evolving in a more selective financing environment?
- Where are lenders tightening, and where are they still flexing to get deals done?
- What is driving the Australia’s data centre investment deal flow and where are the key financing gaps?
- Why are Australian borrowers increasingly accessing offshore markets like the Nordics?
- Where are the key challenges and opportunities in mining restructurings?
14.40 - 15.10HKTNetworking Break
15.10 - 15.55HKTValuations: The great expectation
The market is still navigating a macro environment defined by a valuation gap and compressed traditional exit runways. Businesses built on pre ChatGPT assumptions may face accelerated obsolescence, while AI-enabled companies require different underwriting approaches given their scalability, capital intensity, and often uncertain monetisation timelines. Valuing a business today is complex and requires pricing in structural technological disruptions and navigating a rapidly maturing liquidity ecosystem.
- What methodologies are being employed to accurately value portfolios?
- What are some of the acute challenges in underwriting for companies that may be at risk against AI?
- Are managers turning to alternative sources of liquidity like secondaries and NAV financing?
- Will today’s valuation and exit landscape create future distressed opportunities?
15.55 - 16.40HKTLP allocations: Seeking differentiation in an evolving market
Investors are reassessing how to allocate across the credit spectrum, balancing yield, liquidity, and downside protection while navigating uneven recovery across sectors and regions. Capital is increasingly flowing toward strategies that offer structural protection, pricing power, and flexibility. This panel explores how institutional investors are developing their credit portfolio, where they are finding conviction, and how allocation decisions are shifting in response to changing market dynamics.
- Where are you finding investment conviction today: scale, specialisation, or niche strategies?
- What’s driving LP interest in evergreen, semi‑liquid and hybrid structures?
- What are LPs prioritising when selecting or reupping with managers?
- To what degree should LPs diversify their private debt exposure away from direct lending and into opportunistic credit?
16.40 - 17.10HKTNetworking cocktail reception
Poolhouse, 11/F, Grand Hyatt
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SpeakersKurkye Wong Executive Director Argyle Street Management Limited
Rod Sutton Founding Partner Fortune Ark Restructuring
Ali Abbas Alam Asia Head of Leverage Finance Capital Markets, DCM and Private Credit Jefferies
Vincent Hui Managing Director, APAC Credit CPP Investments
Kathleen Aka Partner Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Jon Davies Director, Strategic Investment Group Deutsche Bank
John Bringardner Executive Editor Debtwire
Andrew Schantz Partner Bain Capital
Spiro Papadolias Partner Gilbert + Tobin
Jason Phillips Director, Asia Credit KKR
Sophia Xia Managing Director, Co-head of Asia Restructuring Houlihan Lokey
Tim Tu Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jing Street Capital
Maggie Cui Managing Director Alvarez & Marsal
Weizhong Yun Senior Portfolio Manager Allianz Global Investors
Lei Zhu Head of Asian Fixed Income Fidelity International
Grainne O'Brien Executive Director, Stressed Assets Group, Structured Solutions and Advisory Standard Chartered Bank
Anthony Chan CEO Isola Capital
Luc Mongeon Managing Editor, Asia Pacific Debtwire
Ping Zhou Co-Managing Editor, APAC Debtwire
Ting Lu Chief China Economist Nomura
Richard McDade Managing Director ADM Capital
Zi H. Cheng Director Houlihan Lokey
Dhevine Chandrapala Partner Sidley Austin
John Nestel Managing Director - Australia Alvarez & Marsal
Tim Tse Head, Special Credit Unit, Greater China HSBC
Dominic Soon Head of APAC Credit Research Debtwire
Gabriel Fong Partner and Co-Head of Asia Special Situations Ares
Philip Kam CEO APLMA
Srinivasulu Yanamandra Managing Director Elham Credit Partners
Catherine Mooney Partner New Peak Partners
Kate White APAC Managing Director GLAS
Atiya Habib Managing Partner Privity Credit
Sophie Lyall Partner White & Case
Jason Tracy Managing Director Alvarez & Marsal
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