This two-day foundation-level course provides a comprehensive introduction to the private credit market, designed for professionals working in private credit teams. Participants will gain a solid grounding in the structure, strategies, and investment processes that define this investment strategy, with practical insights into risk analysis, deal structuring, and market dynamics.
Led by experienced practitioners, the course combines technical content with real-world case studies to help attendees understand how private credit differs from private equity, how deals are sourced and structured, and how market shocks and jurisdictional differences impact investment decisions.
Audience
Firms: This course is designed for firms with private credit strategies.
Individuals: Ideal for professionals who are new to private credit teams, typically with 0-2 years of experience.
Key topics include
- Overview of Private Credit
- The private credit market
- Key stakeholders and their roles
- Understanding capital structures
- Differences between private credit and private equity
- Risk
- Credit fundamentals
- Key considerations in risk analysis
- Market and competitive position
- Industry and macroeconomic factors
- AI risks and opportunities
- Financing structures
- Debt capacity, key financial ratios and financial covenants
- Equity considerations – cash vs implied, enterprise valuations, private equity sponsor position and motivation
- Sourcing opportunities
- Where private credit opportunities come from
- Sponsor opportunities
- Structuring, risk, deal pricing, levels of involvement required of the lender
- Case Studies
- Sponsor-backed deal
- Sponsor-backed deal - Refinancing
- Deal structuring and legal documentation
- Credit agreements
- Principal types of transaction security
- Private Credit Strategies
- Including: Direct lending, Mezzanine, Infrastructure debt, venture debt, distressed, structured - CLOs
- Financial instruments
- Including: bank loans, preferred shares, unsecured notes, NAV
- Dealing with market shocks
- European private credit
- Structuring solutions
- Case Studies
What will delegates take away?
- A solid understanding of the private credit landscape, including how it differs from private equity and the roles of key stakeholders.
- Practical knowledge of credit risk assessment, including financial ratios, covenants, and macroeconomic factors.
- Insight into deal sourcing and structuring, with exposure to both sponsor-backed and non-sponsor-led transactions.
- Familiarity with legal documentation and transaction security, through case studies and working examples.
- An overview of private credit strategies and instruments, such as direct lending, mezzanine, infrastructure debt, and CLOs.
- Awareness of jurisdictional differences across Europe, and how these impact deal execution.
- Real-world lessons from experienced practitioners, including best practices and common pitfalls.
Benefits to employers
- Building internal expertise in private credit, helping firms expand or strengthen their credit capabilities.
- Improving deal execution quality, as team members gain a deeper understanding of structuring, documentation, and risk.
- Enhancing cross-functional collaboration, especially between investment, legal, and finance teams.
- Accelerating onboarding and development of junior professionals, reducing ramp-up time and increasing confidence.
FAQs about this course
What should I expect on the day?
Please arrive with plenty of time to register. Breakfast will be provided along with lunch and refreshments, with a drinks reception at the end of the day. The course will kick off with introductions, followed by content from multiple speakers as per the agenda.
What’s the dress code?
Smart casual.
What should I bring with me?
You may wish to bring something to work on/ to take notes, such as a laptop or iPad (we will provide note pads and pens).
Will materials be shared with delegates?
Yes, all materials, including slides and case studies, will be shared with delegates.
Format
In-person, London
Course Director
The course is led by John Gilligan. Learn more about him below.
John Gilligan
John Gilligan worked in private equity and venture capital for more than 30 years before focusing on teaching and impact investing. He began his career at 3i in 1988 and later spent over two decades as a corporate finance and M&A partner at Deloitte and BDO.
John is Director of the Oxford Saïd Finance Lab at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he has taught more than 1,500 MBA students, lawyers and economists. He designed and raised Big Issue Invest’s debt funds and serves on their Credit Committee; Big Issue Invest is one of the UK’s oldest and largest social impact investors. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Finstreet, a fintech alternatives marketplace based in Abu Dhabi. John is co-author of four editions of Private Equity Demystified, a textbook that has sold thousands of copies globally and is frequently cited in academic literature.
Guest speakers
The course features guest speakers with a wealth of expertise and experience from across the private capital industry. Click a speaker below to learn more about them. Please note, guest speakers may vary depending on the course schedule.
Andy Kolacki
Andy Kolacki represents lenders, private equity sponsors and borrowers in connection with domestic and international acquisition/leverage financings and restructurings. His practice includes senior and subordinated capital structures (including second lien and mezzanine facilities) with specific experience of bank/bond financings and transatlantic financings using US term loan B structures. Andy joined Mayer Brown in 2021.
Chris Skinner
Chris was a founding member of Deloitte’s Debt, Capital & Treasury Advisory business in 2005, focusing on providing independent advice to mid market companies undergoing debt raising exercises. Chris also leads Deloitte's Private Equity portfolio company programme in the UK. Prior to joining Debt, Capital & Treasury Advisory Chris worked in Deloitte’s Reorganisation Services practice where he was involved a wide range of challenging transactions. Having been one of the four original members of the team, Deloitte'sDebt, Capital & Treasury Advisory business has now grown to over 180 people across the globe.
Chris is a Chartered Accountant, a member of the Securities and Investment Institute and an associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
David Wilmot
David is a Founding Partner of Apera, responsible for developing the Apera platform and business in the United Kingdom and in the Nordic region.
David has extensive experience in deal origination and portfolio management in the European leveraged finance market, most recently having spent 16 years at Babson Capital where he was Joint Head of European Private Finance. David was instrumental in establishing Babson’s presence in the European buyout finance market, and served as either an Investment Committee member or co-Chairman for several of Babson’s private debt and CLO funds.
Prior to joining Babson, David led the UK leveraged finance team at Société Générale. David holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University, a MBA from Cass Business School and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
Ian Sale
Ian Sale is one of the London Team heads on HSBC’s Leveraged Finance team. He has over 20 years’ experience in the leveraged finance arena. Ian and his colleagues provide senior debt, super senior debt and other debt related products for private equity investments in the UK mid market. Ian has served on the Member Engagement Advisory Committee of UK Private Capital and is an occasional external guest speaker on debt at the Bayes Business School (formerly the Cass Business School), London for their Private Equity MBA module.
In his spare time, Ian enjoys spending time with his family and playing five aside football in a Monday night veterans’ league.
James Ranger
James is a Managing Director in Lloyds Bank’s Commercial Banking Markets Division. James leads the Loan and High Yield Capital Markets business, which is responsible for supporting clients in raising financing and accessing the capital markets in the UK, Europe and USA. He has 15 years' experience in leveraged finance and high yield asset classes. James chairs Lloyds Bank’s Pricing Panel, which governs all loan underwriting decisions, in addition to sitting on the bank’s credit and investment committees.
James has a degree in economics and economic history from Warwick University and a master's in management from the University of Bath’s School of Management.
Jon Penfold
Jon is responsible for delivering value from the UCLB portfolio. Jon qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young before specialising in investing in both quoted and unquoted companies. He has worked at Charterhouse Tilney, 3i and RBS, where he ran a private equity fund. More recently Jon has gained experience in social investment when he worked at Big Society Capital after which he set up a social enterprise financial institution, Less is More Capital Ltd which generates additional resources for the education of disadvantaged children. Jon also lectures on the MBA course at Oxford University.
Jonathan Groves
Jonathan Groves represents lenders, borrowers and sponsors on a full range of domestic and cross-border acquisition and leveraged finance transactions, with a particular emphasis on private credit and direct lending transactions. He has experience working with UK and international clients on large-scale private equity-backed buyouts, corporate M&A, refinancings and recapitalisations across different levels of the debt capital structure. Before joining Mayer Brown, Jonathan undertook a client secondment at one of the largest credit fund managers.
Lucas Parise
Lucas Parise is the General Counsel for European Credit and a Managing Director in Carlyle's Global Legal Investments Team. Mr. Parise is a member of the Alternative Credit Council’s Technical Group. Mr. Parise has extensive cross-practice experience advising on a broad range of investments throughout the capital structure, specializing in hybrid capital solutions, opportunistic credit, direct lending, special situations, and equity buyouts. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Parise was an Associate on the Private Equity M&A Team at Linklaters in London, where he represented a wide range of private equity sponsors in public and private acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, management incentives, and strategic investments.
He also spent time on secondment to the Linklaters Moscow office in the Banking and Project Finance Team. Mr. Parise received his BA and MSc degrees from Durham University and a law degree from the College of Law in London. He is admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales.
Nicolas Christou
Nico joined Atempo Growth in 2021 and is responsible for managing investments across Europe, partnering closely with high-growth companies to support their scaling journeys. Prior to joining Atempo Growth, Nico worked at Inkef Capital, an Amsterdam-based VC fund, where he sourced and provided investment support to their portfolio companies. Nico holds a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from LSE. Outside of work, Nico enjoys travelling and playing golf.
CPD accreditation
This course is CPD accredited by the CPD Certification Service for 13 hours. By attending this course, you will receive a digital certificate from Diplomasafe. This certificate allows you to share and save your new CPD accredited qualification on LinkedIn, adding instantly verifiable credentials and strengthening your professional profile.
