Debtwire Direct Lending Forum 2023
In-person registration is now closed.
The Savoy, London
18
May
Panel: Leveraging ESG strategies and reporting in direct lending
Private debt funds are increasingly focusing their efforts on ESG strategies, but there are still complexities related to measurement frameworks due to different lending structures, varying degrees of stewardship and engagement with management and private equity owners. Panellists will discuss:
- How are direct lenders tackling ESG strategies with portfolio companies?
- What measurement and reporting frameworks are being used and to what extent?
- How do LPs view ESG strategies given an economic downturn?
- How are private lenders leveraging loan terms to drive an impact agenda?
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SpeakersPaolo Morrone Director, Private Debt Tikehau Capital
Sonia Rocher Head of Research for European Middle Market Private Debt BlackRock
Johan Hultner Founder and Partner & CEO Arcos Capital
Fabrizio Negri CEO Cerved Ratings Agency
Diala Minott Global Co-Chair of Funds Paul Hastings
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Paolo Morrone joined Tikehau Capital’s Private Debt team in London in 2016. Today, he leads the Group’s direct lending business in the UK and is responsible for originating, executing and monitoring UK based investments. Prior to joining Tikehau Capital, he spent one year in the Leveraged Finance team at Mediobanca, working in London and Milan. Paolo holds a masters degree in Finance from Cass Business School.
Sonia Rocher is a Managing Director in BlackRock Private Credit Strategies. She joined BlackRock in 2015 as a senior investment professional and is a founding member of BlackRock Middle Market Private Debt in Europe within BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI). Based in London, Sonia is the Head of the Research team and responsible for leading the underwriting and monitoring of Private Debt investments in Europe. She has also been leading ESG engagement and integration for Private Credit globally.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Sonia was part of RBS' Corporate & Institutional Banking Division where she spent 10 years in roles of increasing responsibility in leveraged finance. Her last role was in their Financial Sponsor Group focusing on sourcing and aligning capital and risk appetite for new leveraged finance transactions. Prior to RBS, she was a Senior Auditor in audit and transaction services at KPMG in Paris. She started her career at Societe Generale in Leveraged Finance Mid Cap and M&A teams in Paris and London.
Johan is a founder and Managing Partner of ARCOS Capital, a private debt fund focusing on senior secured lending to the mid-cap corporate market in Northern Europe (DACH, Benelux, UK and the Nordic Region). Johan has over 25 years of experience in leveraged finance and corporate finance. Prior to joining ARCOS, Johan worked first with UBS for 12 years in London in corporate finance where he led teams advising corporates and private equity firms on M&A, equity and debt related transactions. He then joined RBS for 13 years as Managing Director and was responsible for originating, structuring and managing new issue loans in the European Leveraged Finance market. Johan also served as Board member of RBS’ Leveraged Finance Division and as Chairman of the bank’s Leveraged Finance Credit Committee.
Fabrizio Negri has been the Chief Executive Officer of Cerved Rating Agency since December 2019 and has been responsible for Cerved Group ESG business since December 2022.
Fabrizio joined the Cerved Group in October 2014 as Head of Business Development at Cerved Rating Agency. In 2018 and 2019, he oversaw the design, planning and launch of the fintech platform Cerved Money&GO as Cerved Group’s Head of Digital Lending.
Through managerial roles both in Italy and abroad in banking, capital markets and private equity, Fabrizio has more than two decades of experience in financial services. More specifically, from 2005 to 2012 Fabrizio was the Head of Securitisation and Structured Bonds for Southern Europe & North Africa for HSBC and from 2001 to 2005 he was a Securitisation Director for Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank. During his career, Fabrizio has also worked at Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Whysol Investments and KraftHeinz.
Fabrizio holds a degree in Business Economics from Bocconi University and contributed to the development of the Italian regulatory and legal frameworks of Covered Bond and Project Bonds working with the European Commission, Bank of Italy and the Italian Government.
Diala Minott is a private funds lawyer in the credit funds practice in the London office of Paul Hastings.
She advises on a wide range of fund-related work including private equity, private debt, real estate, mezzanine, venture, credit, infrastructure, funds of funds, distressed and special situations, and activist funds, as well as on the structuring of carried interest, co-investment and other incentive schemes, secondary transactions, and fund restructurings . She also specializes in direct lending funds, having set up the first regulated direct lending fund in Luxembourg in 2009 for ICG. She acts for investors for solvency II planning and also lobbies the regulators for improvements in the banking monopoly regimes around Europe on behalf of her clients. She also acts for governments, improving their funds legislations. Mrs. Minott also specializes in credit funds structured finance transactions, including acting on numerous CLOs and CDOs—both pre- and post-crisis—as well as acting on bespoke hybrid mid-market CLO-type funds.
Her clients include the following: Pemberton, Cheyne, Apollo, Blackrock, Monroe, Idinvest, ICG, Aviva Investors, Pantheon, Insight Management, PGIM, Ostrum, and BNP, amongst others.