Private Credit European Leadership Summit - Hosted by Private Equity Wire & Hedgeweek

The Private Credit European Leadership Summit is a one-day retreat focusing on emerging opportunities and best practice for private credit managers.

As assets in private credit strategies edge toward $2trn by the end of 2022 and the space continues to innovate via more diverse strategies and structures, this Chatham House gathering – designed for operations, finance, legal, product and back-office leaders across the spectrum of credit firms – will offer actionable solutions to this innovative sector’s current problems and potential.

Contrasting fortunes of the space and its strategies
How do credit players evolve as allocator demand/interest increases and banks continue to withdraw from the lending space?
Current opportunities because of dislocation in equity markets – who will benefit? The large (and getting larger) players or smaller/new private credit managers? How to cope with demand, scale and thrive
What trends are we currently seeing in fund launches? As a sector what lessons can we draw from these? And…where do we go next?
How can managers and investors build on a period of good performance and inflows without succumbing to mission creep and inefficiency?
Finally, do private credit managers have a unique opportunity to launch hybrid and ‘semi-retail’ structures

Outsourcing, now a strategic imperative for the private credit fund back-office – what are the current drivers and trends?
Valuations and Loan Administration outsourcing are currently the most outsourced functions after fund administration – examining the scope, challenges, models and strategies adopted in each
Pushing the boundaries of outsourcing to other higher value activities – where to next? Are you even examining the ‘fraction-lisation’ of once key staff – CTO, CFO…and even the COO. What are the benefits and risks here?
What other areas of your ops could be outsourced?
> Extension of outsourcing to front office
Promise of technology adoption for private credit back-office (e.g. cognitive investment data management, standardisation of templates)
> Portfolio monitoring – challenges in monitoring
> Investor reporting – reporting challenges and automation
Co-sourcing and in-sourcing versus standard outsourcing – co-sourcing approach winning with larger funds, but what does it also mean for smaller players?
> Benefits and trade-offs
> Decision considerations for co-sourcing versus standard outsourcing
Lessons from Pandemic
> Cybersecurity not an afterthought any more for private credit managers
> Hybrid operating model and implications for talent management – keeping all the stakeholders aligned and ‘art of flexibility’ for talent management

With markets in turmoil, private credit has become a real focus for allocators
> What strategies are in vogue
> What do capital flows look like
> Currently what investment structures, terms and fees do LPs favour
How are managers and investors better aligning interests in the private credit space
How have investor due diligence process changed as investors look more intently at credit strategies. What are the current main shifts in Operational Due Diligence?
Are we heading for the ‘digitalization’ of the manager/investor relationship? What are the upsides - and obstacles - of the virtual fundraising environment?
Other than ESG what are the current and evolving key reporting requirements wanted by investors?

Outsourcing loan administration – how to form a meaningful partnership with vendors
Creating the ‘digital’ fund – what does it look like now, where do we go to next and making the most of technology, automation and outsourcing while avoiding the pitfalls
Building consistency in business operations and digitalization, without creating headaches for staff and sacrificing the experience of allocators
More outsourcing – more risk? How to guard against insolvency of service providers and a longer tail - via more service providers (and their service providers...) of cyber attacks

Next steps for AIFMD and the arrival of stricter rules around debt funds – what does this mean for the European credit space
What are the current corporate tax rates and regulatory-shifts to be mindful of for managers
Global distribution opportunities and pitfalls
Getting your ‘legals’ straight on current fundraising trends
A review on 2022 and prognosis for 2023: what were the main regulatory issues that private debt managers needed to keep on top of?
What are the current regulatory risks to pursuing deals in Europe and the US?

What does ESG really mean in the private credit space, compared to other private market strategies
Gathering data and monitoring borrowers through an ESG lens
Understanding the current gyrations of the SFDR and EU Taxonomy rules – is your business compliant and prepared
Opportunities of Article 8 and Article 9 funds – can credit managers even realistically be Article 9 compliant, is the reporting burden just too high v. allocator appetite?
Overcoming the reporting headaches and lack of standardization in reporting
Keeping up with the ESG needs of your investors
Focusing on the E, S and G – how to take a balanced approach, but prioritise when necessary
Internal efforts to embrace ESG, particularly around diversity and inclusion
ESG considerations for managers and how to be good ‘corporate citizens’ – what are the tenor of the times and how can a private credit brand present a positive face?