Private Credit

A range of advantages

Private and alternative credit offer investors the potential for higher yield and lower risk, relative to similarly rated public bonds. Furthermore, exposure to economic drivers generally not available in the public credit markets can result in significant diversification benefits.

ESG is at the heart of our process

ESG is central to our investment capabilities. We look to deliver robust financial outcomes for our clients – as well as actively contributing to a fairer, more sustainable world. We focus on understanding the ESG risks and opportunities of our investments alongside other financial metrics to make better investment decisions and produce superior risk-adjusted returns for our clients.

Our capabilities

Aberdeen Investments offers clients access to the major areas of Europe private credit, including commercial real estate debt, infrastructure debt, corporate private debt and fund financing among other areas.

What we offer our clients

Commercial Real Estate Debt

Commercial real estate debt finances property across a range of sectors including office, industrial and retail, with security provided by the property itself.

Infrastructure Debt

Infrastructure debt finances social and economic projects which often have monopoly-like characteristics, providing investors with uncorrelated, high quality cash flows.

Corporate Debt

Private corporate lending can take many forms. Large corporates sometimes prefer to borrow privately to circumvent the constraints of public market issuance, and loans to mid-size corporates.

Fund Finance

We provide credit facilities to private equity funds so that they can bridge investment requirements without having to draw capital from their investors. The benefits across stakeholders include operational efficiency, enhanced internal-rate-of-returns (IRRs) and, in turn, less negative returns in the early years of an investment.

Why are we offering fund financing to investors:

We have a good short-term liquidity profile, targeting both investment grade and credit-rated facilities
This is deemed a low risk strategy given recourse against a diversified base of institutional investors, with no evidence of historic defaults
We have a history of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns

Meet the team

Neil Odom-Haslett

Head of Private Credit

Neil joined the company in 2013 and has worked in the credit industry for more than 30 years. As Head of Private Credit, Neil is responsible for leading on all private credit activities across Aberdeen.

Neil started his career with NatWest and subsequently worked for a number of international banks, including Fortis, Eurohypo, RBS and Deutsche Pfandbrief Bank, where he was the only non-German domiciled person to be given the powers of a voting member of the credit committee.

Neil has extensive experience in both originating and restructuring private credit transactions in the UK and Europe. Neil is also the immediate past President of the Association of Property Lenders (the UK lending representative body) and has eleven years’ investment experience at Aberdeen, and over 30 years’ in the industry. Neil is also an associate at the Associate of the Institute of Bankers.

Martin Barnewell

Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending

Martin joined the company in 2014, bringing over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate and lending. Before this, he worked at Allied Irish Bank and later at Anglo Irish Bank, where he was responsible for the origination, underwriting and management of commercial real estate debt working in both the Dublin and Chicago offices. In 2012, Martin joined Capita Asset Services as Head of Client Relations, based in London, where he was responsible for the management of a portfolio of over £40billion of syndicated and securitised loans. He holds a Bachelor of Business and Law from University College Dublin.

Alex Campbell

Head of Infrastructure Debt

Alex is Head of Infrastructure Debt at Aberdeen, with overall responsibility for the team’s strategies in sourcing, underwriting and managing debt investments across a full range of infrastructure sectors. Aberdeen invests in both social and economic infrastructure across clean energy, transport, social infrastructure, utilities and digital assets. The team manages funds principally on behalf of insurance and pension institutions and invests both in developed and to a growing extent in emerging markets. Alex joined the company in 2015 after prior roles in the financial guarantee industry and in investment banking in London, with periods also spent in New York and Singapore. Alex has a MA degree in Classics from Oxford, where he studied civilisations with a strong track record in building infrastructure such as roads, bridges, aqueducts, sewage, concrete and arches, public buildings, urban planning, ports and lighthouses, and communications; as well as developing democratic principles, comprehensive legal systems, coinage and banking.

Shelley Morrison

Head of Fund Finance

Shelley Morrison leads the strategy for Fund Finance at Aberdeen. She has extensive experience in the origination, structuring and execution of fund level debt facilities across multiple asset classes. She has been with Aberdeen since 2019. Before joining Aberdeen, Shelley was a Director in the Fund Finance team at RBS for 6 years where she managed a portfolio of subscription loans, NAV loans and GP finance to global funds across Private Equity, Private Debt, Infrastructure and Real Estate. Prior to that, she worked in structured asset finance at RBS and Lloyds for 10 years, with a focus on commercial ship finance. Shelley holds the both the IMC and CISI certificate in Corporate Finance and the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Shelley sits on the Fund Finance Association EMEA Executive Committee and Women in Fund Finance Committee. Shelley received a first class MA (honours) degree in Geography and an MSc in Social and Political Theory, both from the University of Edinburgh.

Insights23 min Read

Private credit: Investment-grade opportunities

On the latest episode of “The Voice, The View” podcast, Vivian Tang and Martin Barnewell discuss their views on private credit investment-grade opportunities while highlighting the growth of the asset class since the 2008 financial crisis.

Oct 21, 2024