- Appointments position Permira Credit platform for further accelerated growth, having provided approximately €20bn of debt capital to 300+ European businesses since 2007
London, 17 January 2024 – Permira Credit, one of Europe’s leading alternative credit investors, is pleased to announce that David Hirschmann and Ariadna Stefanescu have been appointed as Co-Heads of Permira Credit, effective immediately.
David, who joined Permira Credit in 2015 and has over 25 years of experience in European private credit, has led the growth of Permira Credit’s Direct Lending business from an AUM of €1bn in 2015 to approximately €12bn today. In his new role, he has primary responsibility for Private Credit, including both Direct Lending and Strategic Opportunities. Prior to joining Permira Credit, David was a Managing Director at Babson Capital Europe, where he was responsible for sourcing and transacting opportunities and was a member of the private debt investment committee.
Ariadna Stefanescu joined Permira Credit at its inception in 2007 and has 20+ years of European credit experience. Since joining, Ariadna has been involved in all Permira Credit strategies and in recent years, as Head of Liquid Credit, she focused primarily on growing the platform’s business across CLO Management - with nine Providus CLOs issued since 2018, today representing €3.5bn of AUM - and Structured Credit. She also oversees the firm’s multi-strategy credit offering and serves on the CLO Management and Structured Credit Investment Committees. Prior to joining Permira Credit, Ariadna worked at J.P. Morgan in both the Leveraged Finance and the High Yield Capital Markets teams.
As Co-Heads of Permira Credit, David and Ariadna are responsible for overall leadership of the business as Permira Credit embarks on ambitious growth plans for 2024 and beyond.
As part of the leadership transition process, Claire Harwood and Jens Bauer, Managing Directors in Direct Lending, have been appointed Co-Heads of the Direct Lending Investment Team.
David Hirschmann and Ariadna Stefanescu, Co-Heads of Permira Credit, said: “We are delighted and fortunate to take on our new roles at a time when Permira Credit is going from strength to strength. The continued evolution of the platform, including the new roles for Claire and Jens, underscores the strength of the of the team and is testament to our commitment to people development. We have an ambitious growth agenda for 2024 and beyond which includes both product growth and geographic expansion, and we’re looking forward to leading the business during what is an exciting time for both public and private credit markets.”
