Permira Credit, a European alternative credit investor, has promoted David Hirschmann, who joined the business in 2015, and Ariadna Stefanescu, who has been with the firm since inception in 2007, to Co-Heads of the business, with immediate effect.
Hirschmann, who 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, Hirschmann 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.
Stefanescu has over 20 years of European credit experience. Since joining, she 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, Stefanescu worked at JPMorgan in both the leveraged finance and the high yield capital markets teams. As Co-Heads of Permira Credit, Hirschmann and Stefanescu 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.
