Debtwire Direct Lending Awards
The Debtwire Direct Lending Awards return for their fourth edition, recognising the top-performing European direct lending funds and regional direct lending managers. With 19 award categories, join us as we celebrate the industry’s top achievers and highlight the deals that shaped the market.
Please note: We have updated the People’s Choice Awards process. Submissions for the Large-Cap, Mid-Market, and Small-Cap Direct Lending Manager of the Year categories are no longer being accepted. The shortlist has been determined based on Debtwire data. The winner in each category will now be selected through a combination of votes from the industry and input from our expert judging panel. Public voting opens 21 May and closes 30 May 2025.
Awards Categories:
There are four types of awards categories with different methods of entry and judging:
- Shortlisted Awards - These are based on the Debtwire European Direct Lender Rankings. View the 2025 shortlist here. Shortlisted firms are invited to submit a 300-word pitch to george.sengulovski@iongroup.com. Deadline for submissions is 9 May. Our expert panel of judges will review the submissions and league tables and determine our winners.
- Fund of the Year Awards - European direct lenders can nominate their active funds for the Large-Cap, Mid-Market, and Small-Cap Direct Lending Fund of the Year categories by completing this form. Deadline for submissions is 9 May. The submitted data will determine the winners.
- Deal of the Year Awards - Any European direct lender can nominate their firm for the Large-Cap, Mid-Market, and Small-Cap Direct Lending Deal of the Year categories by submitting a 300-word pitch to george.sengulovski@iongroup.com. Deadline for submissions is 16 May. Our expert panel of judges will determine the winners. Please see below for further details for this category.
- Manager of the Year Awards - This year's Large-Cap, Mid-Market, and Small-Cap Direct Lending Manager of the Year shortlist has been determined based on Debtwire data. Shortlisted firms are invited to submit a 300-word pitch to george.sengulovski@iongroup.com. Deadline for submissions is 9 May. The winner in each category will be selected using both a public vote and input from our judges. Online voting will open on 21 May and close on 30 May 2025.
Please scroll to the end of the page for further details and key deadlines.
The Process:
We recognise deals completed between 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024.
How are shortlists created?
We carefully analyse the Debtwire European Direct Lender Rankings to identify the standout direct lenders in each category. Once the shortlist is finalised, each firm is invited to submit a 300-word pitch showcasing their achievements.
How are winners for the shortlisted awards and deal of the year awards selected?
A panel of private credit experts and industry veterans reviews the submissions, assessing each pitch alongside Debtwire's league table data. Judges deliberate to determine the winners based on measurable performance and industry impact.
Judges will receive the following data for each nominee:
- League table ranking for the category
- Overall deal count for the nominated category
How to Write a Winning Pitch
Click here for guidance on crafting a compelling pitch.
Deal of the Year Awards:
There are three Deal of the Year awards, self-nominated by you – the direct lenders. Everyone who submits a pitch is then considered for shortlisting by our judging panel.
- Direct lending deal of the year – Large-cap (>$/€200m of total debt / >$/€50m EBITDA)
- Direct lending deal of the year – Mid-market ($/€40m-$/€200m of debt / $/€10m-50m EBITDA)
- Direct lending deal of the year – Small-cap (<$/€40m of debt / <$/€10m EBITDA)
Criteria for the Deal of the Year awards:
- Must be a direct-lending deal
- Cannot include add-ons; must be a new deployment
- Transaction executed between 1 January and 31 December 2024
- Can be sponsored or non-sponsor-backed direct-lending deal
What we need from you:
Submit a 300-word pitch to george.sengulovski@iongroup.com. The judges want to know why you deserve to win. An ideal pitch will show how you added value to deal processes, supported clients and offered creative solutions to complex situations. Explain why the deal(s) were so important and what you did as a direct lender to get them across the line.
The pitch is then handed to our judges who will review all the entries received, compare it with our league table data and debate who deserves to be shortlisted and ultimately win. The judges are asked to ignore any reference to non-Debtwire awards and rankings, and deals that don’t meet our criteria for inclusion in Debtwire database.
The pitches are treated as confidential documents. However, please clearly mark any previously undisclosed information as “confidential.”
Key Deadlines:
Shortlisted Awards:
Send your 300-word pitch to: george.sengulovski@iongroup.com
Deadline for submissions is 9 May 2025
Fund of the Year Awards:
To enter complete this form.
Deadline for submissions is 9 May 2025
Deal of the Year Awards:
Send your 300-word pitch to: george.sengulovski@iongroup.com
Deadline for submissions is 16 May 2025
Manager of the Year Awards:
Send your 300-word pitch to: george.sengulovski@iongroup.com
Deadline for submissions is 9 May 2025
Online voting (Manager of the Year Awards only): Opens 21 May | Closes 30 May 2025
Winners announced: 17 June 2025 at the awards ceremony in London
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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.
Ivan Radenovic is a Managing Director and Head of Direct Lending in Europe at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Radenovic is responsible for leading direct lending and special situation transactions within European private credit space.
Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2014, Mr. Radenovic spent 5 years with Credit Suisse Mergers & Acquisitions group in London.
Natalia Tsitoura is Partner, Capital Solutions and Head of Europe Origination in the European Private Debt team at Apollo. Prior to joining in 2020, Natalia was Managing Director at Alcentra in London where she was responsible for originating, structuring and underwriting senior and junior financings for companies across Europe for Alcentra’s specialist direct ending and mezzanine team.
Natalia graduated from Loughborough University in Business Studies.
As Head of EMEA Leveraged Finance, Dan is responsible for overseeing SMBC’s leveraged finance and private credit strategies across Europe.
Prior to joining SMBC in 2015, Dan was a Managing Director in GE Capital’s European leveraged finance business and has 25 years of experience lending to private equity owned companies.
Dan graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSc in Economics.
Alexis Atteslis, Co-Head of Europe & Partner, shares portfolio management responsibilities for European investments. Mr. Atteslis is a member of OHA’s investment strategy, ESG and various fund investment committees. Additionally, Mr. Atteslis heads the firm’s investment activities in the global maritime industry. Previously, Mr. Atteslis worked at Deutsche Bank in its European Leveraged Finance Group and at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He currently serves on the board of a number of OHA’s portfolio companies. Mr. Atteslis received an MA from the University of Cambridge and has earned a Chartered Accountant qualification with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.