Ali Abbas Alam is Asia Head of Leverage Finance Capital Markets, DCM and Private Credit, based in Singapore at Jefferies Financial Group.

Ali has more than 29 years of experience in Private Credit, Investment Banking, M&A, Capital Markets and Corporate C-Suite roles.

Ali joined Jefferies from Ares Capital Management, where he focused on private credit transactions in South East Asia. Prior to Ares, Ali was with Credit Suisse for 16 years in Singapore. He was founding member and co-head of the Credit Suisse Asia Financing Group.

Andrew Schantz joined Bain Capital in 2023. He is a Partner on the Credit team.

Prior to joining Bain Capital, Andrew was a Managing Director with CPP Investment’s APAC Credit team and an Executive Director with Tor Investment Management. He began his career with Citi’s Special Situations and Credit Portfolio teams in New York.Andrew received an MS from Boston College, a BS from Florida State University, and is a CFA Charterholder. 

Anthony is Chief Executive Officer of Isola Capital.   

Anthony has extensive experience in asset management across private equity, venture capital, private credit and liquid secondary strategies. Anthony enjoyed a career in investment banking before transitioning to private investments and family office wealth management. He has broad investment expertise across a broad range of consumer, agricultural, industrial and technology sectors. 

Anthony attained a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Economics) from The University of Sydney and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from The University of Sydney Law School. He is also a graduate of The College of Law (Sydney) and was admitted to the High Court of Australia and Supreme Court of NSW. Anthony completed the Financial Engineering Program of Stanford University and attended the Stanford Executive Institute.   

He is a Responsible Officer for Type 1 (Dealing in Securities), Type 4 (Advising on Securities) and Type 9 (Asset Management) activities licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Anthony is Vice Chairman of Pacific Basin Economic Council and Co-Chair of Cyberport Investors Network Growth Portfolio Sub-Committee, a member of the HK Trade Development Council Technology and Digital Innovation Advisory Committee, a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Taxation Committee, a member of the HKVCA LP Committee and the Family Office Committee. He is an Advisory Board member of Hex Trust. He was previously appointed as a member of the Market Misconduct Tribunal.   

Anthony is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. He is a keen tennis player, golfer, wine enthusiast and Formula One fan.

Catherine Mooney is a Partner at New Peak Partners.

Prior to that, she was Managing Director at Assured Asset Management and Director at Asante Capital Group, working across New York and Hong Kong to advise clients on fundraising and capital solutions. Earlier in her career, Catherine was Vice President at MVision Private Equity Advisers, having worked in both London and Hong Kong, and held investment banking roles at UBS and Goldman Sachs in London and Sydney, respectively.

Catherine holds a Master of Science in Data Science from City University of Hong Kong and a Master of Economics from UNSW.

Dhevine is a partner in Sidley’s Hong Kong Restructuring practice with extensive experience acting on behalf of debtors in relation to many of Hong Kong’s most significant restructuring mandates in recent years. He is a senior member of a Sidley team responsible for close to US$50 billion in successfully completed restructuring mandates since the start of the China real estate crises in 2021.  

As well as acting on behalf of debtors in cross-border restructurings, Dhevine also has experience advising sponsors, creditors, and strategic investors on restructurings of stressed and distressed businesses. In addition, he advises private equity and credit houses, hedge funds, and investment banks in their review and diligence of investment opportunities in par, stressed, and distressed transactions. Dhevine has received recognition from numerous industry rankings such as the Global Restructuring Review, IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards, Legal 500, Legal Business Awards, and FT Innovative Lawyers Awards.

Dominic Soon is Head of APAC Credit Research at Debtwire in Hong Kong and has 17 years of experience across Asian fixed-income markets. He specialises in high-yield, distressed debt and special situations and is responsible for a team of analysts that provides fundamental, bottom-up credit research.

Prior to joining Debtwire, Dominic was an Investment Analyst at a global multi-strategy fund, where he covered Chinese and Southeast Asian credits and convertible bonds. He also has been involved in several APAC restructuring processes spanning multiple jurisdictions.

Dominic holds a BSc in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Accounting & Finance from Bayes Business School. He is a CFA charterholder

Mr. Fong is a Partner and Co-Head of Asia Special Situations in the Ares Credit Group. He is a member of the Ares Credit Asia Special Situations, Asia Direct Lending (ADL), and Ares Credit Asia Pacific (ACAP) Investment Committees. Prior to joining Ares in 2026, Mr. Fong was a Managing Director and Head of Special Opportunities Group at CapitaLand Investment, where he oversaw special situation investment activities and strategy. Previously, he was a Co-Founder of VAW Capital, a pan-Asian real estate private equity fund. In addition, Mr. Fong was a Managing Director, Head of Special Investments at Och-Ziff Capital, where he oversaw special situation and private investments in Asia. Mr. Fong holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University, UK, in Economics.

Grainne has over 25 years’ experience in international banking and private equity. She has advised listed corporates and private equity on their investments in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Based in Singapore for the last 15 years, Grainne currently works in Standard Chartered Bank focusing on global special assets management including restructuring, distressed loan sales and impairment provisioning. Prior to that, she was Director of Investments for Fine Grain Property, a PE real estate investor and operator. Before moving to Singapore, Grainne was a Director in the corporate finance boutique, DC Advisory in London where she advised on billions of dollars of complex, multi-jurisdictional restructurings and was responsible for returning numerous clients to financial health. Prior to that, Grainne worked in the Allied Irish Banks in London focusing on restructuring and portfolio management. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland and trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Dublin, Ireland.

Jason Phillips (Singapore) joined KKR in 2018 and is a Director on the Asia Credit team. He is responsible for the Asia Pacific Sponsor Finance business and the Australia and New Zealand Credit business. Prior to relocating to Asia Pacific in early 2023, Mr. Phillips was a senior member of the US Corporate Private Credit team in New York. Before joining KKR, Mr. Phillips was an associate on Deutsche Bank’s private credit team in both New York and London. Mr. Phillips holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University.

John Nestel is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal in Sydney, and serves as the firm’s Head of Corporate Finance and Debt Restructuring practice in Southeast Asia and Australia. He brings more than 25 years of merger and acquisition, complex financing and restructuring experience.

Mr. Nestel has worked extensively for all the major banks and financial institutions, as well as private equity, including in carve-outs of financial services platforms and sale and purchase of credit books. 

Additionally, Mr. Nestel specialises in complex cross-border financing and has worked on major corporate restructures across the APAC region, the U.S. and Europe. He worked on the financing of the Takata (airbag manufacturing) entities to emerge from Chapter 15 bankruptcy (the international version of Chapter 11). Mr. Nestel has also been involved in most of the significant administrations and turnaround or restructuring transactions in Australia, including for private equity and special situation funds during the global financial crisis, and in developing innovative uses of securitisations to fund acquisition of NPL loan portfolios and credit books. 

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Nestel co-founded a boutique investment bank, specialising in restructuring, complex M&A and capital raising, and served as Global Head of Finance for Herbert Smith Freehills. As President of the Turnaround Management Association, Mr. Nestel championed the secondary debt trading market in Australia, including NPL portfolios and the entry of credit and special situation funds.

Mr. Nestel led the restructure of Virgin Australia for the ~$2 billion bondholders; the debt for control acquisition of Camp Australia; the carve-out and financing of Westpac’s $12 billion auto finance platform; and the take private of Slater & Gordon.

Mr. Nestel earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in law (first class honours) from Macquarie University. He has been the International Vice-President for TMA Global; the President and Chairman of the Turnaround Management Association of Australia; on the board of AsiaPac Loan Market Association for 20 years; and published in leading journals.

JD joined Deutsche Bank in 2017 and runs sales and distribution for Deutsche Bank’s Strategic Investment Group (SIG) in Asia. Over the past seven years, the team has been involved in multiple landmark transactions across the region with JD taking responsibility for managing the relationships that the SIG has with co-investors and partners relevant to those trades. SIG has a broad mandate which spans special situation direct lending, trading secondary distressed debt and fund and portfolio financing. The team has a proven track record of working with partners to source risk, invest, drive outcomes and effect profitable exits from trades.

He writes a regular market commentary which serves as a window into what the team is focused on and where there might be investment opportunities. Reach out if you’d like to be on the distribution for that.

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. Qualified in Hong Kong, New South Wales, Australia, and England and Wales, 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 earn her recognition as one of the top restructuring lawyers in Asia. She is ranked by Chambers Greater China Region for Restructuring & Insolvency, recognized as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and named a Highly Regarded lawyer by IFLR1000 Asia Pacific. Kathleen has also been recognized as a “Growth Driver” in China Business Law Journal’s A-List in consecutive editions (2023-2024, 2024-2025 & 2025-2026 editions), was named an “Asia Future Leader” by IFLR in 2021, and was selected as one of the “40 Under 40” honorees by Asian Legal Business in 2019.

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.

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.

Lei ZHU is the Head of Asian Fixed Income. Lei has over 18 years of global and Asian fixed income portfolio management experiences and over 21 years of industry experience. In this position, Lei provides strategic direction and leadership for Fidelity’s Asian Fixed Income business and managerial responsibility for the fixed income portfolio management team.

Before joining Fidelity in January 2023, Lei spent over a decade at Credit Suisse Asset Management in Singapore and Hong Kong, where she was most recently Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Asia. As a founding member of their Asset Management Asian fixed income business since 2012, she took the lead role in building out the firm’s Greater China capabilities and helped to establish the franchise’s Singapore-based capabilities. She was a senior portfolio manager for Emerging Markets, Asian USD corporate, and Asian local currency bond portfolios and funds, as well as served as a member of the Emerging Markets Strategy Group. In addition, Lei managed portfolios with a focus on both onshore and offshore renminbi bond markets in China. Her investment expertise has earned her several Lipper Fund Awards for Asian fixed income strategies in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Lei began her professional investment management career in 2007 at DBS Bank in Singapore. She was a manager for global USD credit and Asian fixed income portfolios at the bank’s Treasury Investments Department which was responsible for the management of the bank’s excess liquidity and shareholders’ funds to generate absolute returns in a broad range of asset classes globally. Prior to this, Lei held various roles at DBS Bank and Ernst & Young.

Lei holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and is also a CFA charterholder.

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.

Maggie Cui is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Restructuring & Turnaround in Shanghai. She focuses on financial advisory, corporate restructuring, cross-border transaction advisory, and distressed exits/closures for clients expanding internationally or investing into and out of China.

Ms. Cui brings 30 years of experience across mainland China and Australia. She has advised on several of the country’s largest and most complex restructuring mandates, including co-leading the multijurisdictional restructurings of China Fortune Land Development (one of China’s largest property-sector debt resolutions) and HNA Group (a landmark conglomerate restructuring involving hundreds of entities and international creditors). Ms. Cui’s sector experience spans real estate, mining, and infrastructure, and she maintains an active network within the Asia–Pacific private equity real estate community.

Prior to joining A&M, Ms. Cui most recently served as Reshaping Results Leader with EY China after leading its Strategy and Transactions mining sector practice in China. Before that, she served as China Business Leader for Victoria with EY Australia. Ms. Cui’s earlier roles with EY China also include Head of Real Estate for Greater China.

Ms. Cui earned a bachelor’s degree (with distinction) in business (minor in accounting) from Charles Sturt University. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) and member of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ). She is fluent in Mandarin and English.

Neil Synnott is IQ-EQ's Regional Chief Commercial Officer for APAC, responsible for shaping and executing the firm's commercial and segment strategy across the region. Since joining IQ-EQ in 2017, he has played a key role in driving growth, developing go-to-market strategies and fostering a unified commercial and sales culture across Asia.

With close to 20 years of industry experience, Neil works closely with fund managers, asset owners and institutional investors, bringing deep expertise across a broad range of asset classes and investment structures. He also maintains a portfolio of key Real Estate and Private Equity client relationships. In 2020, recognising growing demand for real estate fund services in Asia-Pacific, Neil relocated to Singapore to strengthen support for clients and further expand IQ-EQ's presence in the region.

Beyond his role at IQ-EQ, Neil is an active contributor to the investment funds industry. He serves on the executive committee of the Singapore Fund Administration Association, contributes to various committees of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) and the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA), and is a voting member of the Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (ANREV). A respected industry voice, Neil is also a seasoned speaker and moderator at conferences and industry events across the region.

Philip was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the APLMA in October 2025. He is a former investment banking Managing Director, having completed a 15‑year tenure at HSBC, during which he served as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Banking Division for Asia Pacific. In that capacity, he led the COO function, with responsibility for operational infrastructure, governance frameworks, and risk controls across the Global Banking business in 18 countries. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Bank of America in Hong Kong and CIBC in Toronto. He later served as Chief Institute Development Officer at the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers prior to joining the APLMA.

Philip holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and is a Canadian Chartered Accountant.

Zhou Ping is Co-Managing Editor at Debtwire APAC, a global intelligence service that researches and reports on high-yield and distressed debt, leveraged financing and debt restructurings. Co-working with a group of experienced journalists and analysts, she writes news stories and market insights on Chinese high-yield bond issuers, distressed debt, in-court and out-of-court restructuring situations. Prior to Debtwire, she worked for Financial Times to cover South China in Hong Kong Bureau, Associated Press in Beijing Bureau. She studied and lived in Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul before moving to Hong Kong.

Mr. McDade is a Managing Director on the Investment Team at ADM Capital and a voting member of the Investment Advisory Committee. He has over 19 years’ experience in special situations lending and restructuring across Asian credit markets, and oversees the firm’s investments in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to joining ADM Capital, he was Head of Structuring at Double Haven Capital (Hong Kong), focusing on distressed debt, special situations and private lending, and previously worked in the Restructuring team at Clifford Chance (Hong Kong).

Rod brings with him an impressive tenure of over 37 years in the field of financial advisory. His extensive and varied experience encompasses numerous pivotal roles including CEO, member of the Executive Committees, Advisor, Director, and Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO).

Throughout his career, Rod has advised companies, boards, creditors, and stakeholders across the Asia Pacific region on complex financial and operational challenges. His judgement, practical approach, and focus on consensual outcomes have made him a highly sought-after advisor for situations requiring decisive leadership, stakeholder alignment, and value preservation.

Prior to assuming his current position, Rod was one of Asia’s most respected insolvency practitioners, with a track record of delivering returns to creditors on average of 60 cents to the dollar on his assignments. In response to strong market demand for his services, Rod now focuses on earlier-stage, company-side mandates, including board roles, Chief Restructuring Officer appointments, and special advisory roles, where he can help companies stabilise, restructure and reposition for success. His approach is centred on achieving greater returns than a formal appointment would typically deliver, while supporting the business in preserving value and pursuing a sustainable path forward.

Rod’s career is marked by strategic vision, commercial judgement, and an ability to navigate complex financial landscapes. He is recognised for helping companies and stakeholders reach practical, value-enhancing outcomes, with a consistent focus on maximising recoveries, preserving enterprise value, and positioning businesses for long-term success.

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 Sino Ocean, Country Garden, Modern Land, Sunac, China Evergrande, Glory Health and Luckin Coffee; and creditor-side mandates for Shimao Group, Yestar Healthcare, GCL Energy, Hilong Group and Huachen Energy. Before joining HL, Ms. Xia was at J.P. Morgan’s investment banking division and 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.

Spiro Papadolias is a Partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Banking and Projects group, specialising in banking and finance matters including acquisition finance, real estate finance and general corporate finance.

He advises major corporate borrowers, sponsors and financial institutions on complex financing transactions and has extensive experience navigating the evolving Australian credit and financing market. Spiro is a trusted adviser to his clients, with his expertise recognised by leading legal directories.

Mr. Yanamandra is a Managing Director at Elham Credit Partners. He has over 19 years of experience in the Asia Pacific credit markets. He has worked across key APAC markets including India, Australia, Greater China and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Elham Credit Partners, he was Head of Loans and Leveraged Finance at Barclays for North Asia and was responsible for Structured Finance efforts for Barclays across Asia ex-India. Over his career, Mr. Yanamandra set up and grew multiple businesses across various credit strategies with transactions across the risk spectrum including corporate lending, leveraged financing, pre-IPO financing, margin loans, NAV facilities, Holdco and mezzanine financing and special situations financing. Mr. Yanamandra holds a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.   

Tim is the Head of Special Credit Unit, Greater China, with responsibility for the work out and restructuring (incl. debt sales) of stressed, distressed and defaulted exposures held by HSBC as principal.  Coverage includes Global & Commercial Banking, Wealth & Private Banking and Markets, and includes management of borrowers outside this region given HSBC Hong Kong’s role as an offshore loan booking center.

Tim has worked in Finance for over 25 years and with HSBC since 2014.  Prior to HSBC, Tim worked in special situations space on both sellside and buyside.

Tim is an Economics graduate from the University of Cambridge and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Tim Tu is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Jing Street Capital, a boutique capital markets adisory firm based in Hong Kong. 

Tim has more than 20 years of experience in international capital markets, corporate finance, and structured lending. 

Tim founded Jing Street Capital following senior leadership roles at leading global financial institutions. He served as Head of APAC Corporate Book at UBS follwing the UBS-CS merger and Head of APAC Financing at Credit Suisse , where he oversaw a pan-Asian financing portfolio exceeding US$10 billion. Previously, Tim was CEO of Credit Suisse Securities China Limited and spent a decade at Standard Chartered.

Based in Hong Kong, Vincent focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and managing credit investments across the Asia Pacific region.  Vincent was previously a member of the Americas and European Credit groups in the Toronto and London offices of CPP Investments, respectively.  Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2010, Vincent worked at Credit Suisse in Los Angeles.  Vincent holds a BA in Business Administration (Hons) from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Weizhong Yun is a Senior Portfolio Manager, Asia Private Credit, Private Markets with Allianz Global Investors based in Singapore. He joined the firm in 2018 and has over 18 years of experience in investment management and origination.

Before joining AllianzGI, Weizhong was a Director on the Private Equity team for Abraaj in Southeast Asia, focusing on origination, transaction execution and portfolio management across consumer, education, healthcare and logistics sectors in Southeast Asia. He was also responsible for driving coverage efforts for Abraaj in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Prior to joining Abraaj, Weizhong worked in the Investment Banking groups at Merrill Lynch and HSBC where he was involved in M&A and capital markets transactions across Southeast Asia in real estate, financial services, FMCG, telecom and resources sectors.

Weizhong graduated Magna Cum Laude with double Bachelor degrees in Accountancy and Business Management (Finance).

Mr. Cheng is a Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial and Valuation Advisory business. He specializes in advising a diverse base of alternative asset investors, including hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, business development companies, limited partner investors, and corporations, on valuing illiquid securities throughout the capital structure. Mr. Cheng is based in the firm’s Hong Kong office. Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Cheng was an investment professional at various investment funds. Mr. Cheng holds a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University.