Martin BarnewellMartin is Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending at Aberdeen, where he is responsible for leading all real estate debt activities across origination, underwriting, portfolio management and strategic development.

He joined Aberdeen in 2014 and has over 20 years’ experience in commercial real estate lending across the UK, Europe and the US. At Aberdeen, he has played a central role in building and scaling the platform, overseeing the full investment lifecycle from product development and fundraising to execution and asset management. 

Prior to joining Aberdeen, Martin worked for Capita Asset Services as Head of Client Relations, based in London, where he managed a portfolio of over £40 billion of commercial real estate loans. Martin also worked at Anglo Irish Bank, where he was responsible for origination, underwriting and management of commercial real estate debt across both the Dublin and Chicago offices. He began his career at Allied Irish Bank.

He holds a Bachelor of Business and Law from University College Dublin.

 Dayen is a Director at Aksia and is responsible for alternative investments in Europe and the Middle East with a focus on portfolio construction and strategy allocation. He supports investment processes, manager sourcing and selection, portfolio analysis and implementation, as well as governance management and reporting.

Prior to joining Aksia in 2021, Dayen spent over seven years at Lloyds Banking Group. There, he held several roles, with the most recent being a Senior Investment Analyst, where he was responsible for the investment manager research, selection and implementation of the pension schemes’ return seeking and growth asset classes (public equities, private equity, hedge funds and real assets) and provided support on sub-investment grade credit allocations.

Valentina La Barba is an Indirect Private Debt Co‑Portfolio Manager at Generali Asset Management, where she focuses on identifying and executing investment opportunities across the European private credit landscape. Her expertise spans Direct lending, Special Situations and Asset‑Based Finance, with a particular focus on delivering resilient returns for institutional investors. She is also actively involved in the growth of Generali’s Private Credit Secondaries platform, supporting both fundraising and investment strategy.