Fund Finance Association

EMEA Committee Members

EMEA Executive Committee

Emma Russell

Chair

Haynes Boone

Emma Russell

Partner | Head of the Finance Practice Group | London | Haynes Boone

Emma Russell is a partner and head of the Finance Practice Group in the London office of Haynes and Boone. Emma is an experienced loan finance lawyer with extensive knowledge in global fund finance, real estate finance transactions, and structured and specialty finance, as well as more general experience in acquisition, leverage, and general corporate finance. Her practice focuses on the full range of fund lending products across all fund sectors, (including private equity, real estate, secondaries, infrastructure, and hedge) from capital call facilities, hybrid/NAV facilities, to general partner support, co-invest facilities and portfolio acquisition facilities and assisting funds with structuring. Emma has significant experience advising credit funds and their lenders in relation to leverage facilities to CLO’s/CDO’s and securitisation vehicles. Emma’s experience also includes advising both lenders and funds on private equity, receivables financing, asset based lending, speciality finance, real estate fund structuring, and acting for both lenders and sponsors in relation to investment and development real estate finance and leverage restructurings. Emma has spent significant time working in-house with various financial institutions during her career. She has gained varied experiences with both business and legal teams across all lending sectors. Emma co-chairs the European Committee of Women in Fund Finance, a group associated with the Fund Finance Association, which is focused on recognition and promotion of women leaders within the alternative investment fund finance industry.

Kathryn Cecil

Deputy Chair

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP

Charlie Bischoff

Partner

Travers Smith LLP

Charlie Bischoff

Partner | Travers Smith LLP

Charles is a partner in the Finance Group at Travers Smith where he co-heads the Fund Finance team, in addition to leading the Speciality Finance team. He specialises in fund finance, speciality finance, corporate lending, and general banking matters acting for financial institutions, private equity sponsors, investors and borrowers.

Charles represents lenders and borrowers on complex and highly structured transactions, predominantly in the fund finance and speciality finance spaces. He has a particularly well-established lender practice advising on a number of different financings across the full spectrum of products in the fund finance space, in particular investor call bridge/subscription facilities, NAV and hybrid facilities, GP support/co-invest facilities, and equity commitment-backed facilities to funds, GPs, managers and investors across a range of asset classes.

An internationally-recognised name in the fund finance space, Charles is a regular speaker and author on the topic. He most recently presented at the Fund Finance Association's Global Market Update in 2020. Charles is ranked in Band 1 for Fund Finance by Chambers and Partners UK 2022.

Helen Griffiths

Head of Structuring, Fund Solutions

Investec

Samantha Hutchinson

Partner

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Samantha Hutchinson

Partner | Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Samantha Hutchinson is Head of Cadwalader’s European Fund Finance Team, a 16 strong-team based in London exclusively focussed on fund finance. Sam has been advising financial institutions and private markets managers for 20 years, and her practice covers the full range of fund lending products, including subscription lines, primary and secondary leverage and liquidity lines, GP and executive financings and co-invest facilities delivered via a number of different structures including framework and umbrella facilities as well as programmes to harness institutional capital. In the last 12 months Sam’s team has advised on over 180 transactions totalling over £50bn in value.

Sam is recognised as a preeminent banking and finance lawyer by Chambers UK, Legal 500 UK and IFLR1000. She has been recognised as an industry leader among the 2022 IFLR1000 Women Leaders, which represents the ‘most prominent female lawyers’ working in their jurisdictions. She is shortlisted as part of the Law.com International and Legal Week’s 2022 Women, Influence and Power in Law (WIPL) UK Awards. Sam was also shortlisted by the Financial Times in the “Innovative practitioner” category as part of the FT Innovative Lawyers Europe 2021 awards.

Joe Mahon

Partner/CFO

Coller Capital

Billal Malik

Director

Citibank

Billal Malik

Director | Citibank

Billal is a Director within Citi's Subscription Credit Finance team based in London, covering private equity fund clients across Europe. Billal has been with Citi for 11 years, and always had roles focussed on private equity clients. Billal established the Fund Finance Association's Next Generation network, which currently has chapters in the US, Europe and Asia. He was awarded the Fund Finance Next Generation Member of year in 2020 for his efforts in promoting mentorship, network, career enhancement and charity opportunities for future fund finance leaders. Billal holds a first class honours degree from Imperial College London and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Association professional. Billal takes a keen interest in sports, particularly football (soccer).

Shelley Morrison

Head of Fund Finance

abdrn

Shelley Morrison

Head of Fund Finance | abdrn

Shelley Morrison leads the strategy for fund finance at abrdn. She has extensive experience in the origination, structuring and execution of fund level debt facilities across multiple asset classes. She has been with abrdn since 2019. Before joining abrdn, Shelley was a Director in the Fund Finance team at RBS for 6 years where she managed a portfolio of global funds relationships 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 is a candidate for the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing. Shelley sits on the Fund Finance Association EMEA Executive 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.

Robin Smith

Partner

Carey Olsen

Robin Smith

Partner | Carey Olsen

Robin is consistently recognised for his ability to deal with a wide range of international corporate and finance transactions. He has acted on numerous significant portfolio acquisitions and disposals. He often acts for both lenders and borrowers on complex financings, refinancings and restructurings and has significant experience in relation to the financing of investment funds.

Robin advises global banks and large corporates as well as smaller privately held entities. He also has experience advising in relation to the establishment, transfer and redomiciliation of banking business in Jersey.

Robin is a director of Carey Olsen Corporate Finance Limited which provides sponsor services in respect of The International Stock Exchange listings and regularly advises on transactions involving Eurobonds and other TISE listed securities.

Robin is ranked as a leading lawyer by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and IFLR1000 and has been recently described as "the stand-out Jersey banking and finance lawyer". Recently, Robin advised the Government of Jersey on the establishment of the loan guarantee scheme to support local businesses through the coronavirus pandemic.

Leon Stephenson

Partner | Co-Head Fund Finance

Reed Smith LLP

Leon Stephenson

Partner | Co-Head Fund Finance | Reed Smith LLP

Leon is co-lead of the Reed Smith fund finance team, based in London. Leon and the team work with banks, other financial institutional lenders, managers, general partners and limited partners of funds on specialist fund financing transactions with private equity, secondaries, real estate, direct lending and infrastructure funds.

Leon has particular specialist knowledge of NAV/asset-backed and hybrid facilities, secondary funds facilities, capital call facilities, co-investment and GP/manager support facilities and other types of liquidity facilities provided to funds.

Leon is recognised as a Leading Individual in Fund Finance by Legal 500 UK 2021 and the team was awarded Band 1 in Fund Finance by Legal 500 UK 2021. Leon was recognised as “Partner of the Year for Banking” at the Client Choice Awards 2017. Leon represents a large proportion of lenders that provide fund financing as well as a number of private equity and other funds on complex fund finance transactions.

Raghav Wadhawan

Executive Director

Standard Chartered Bank

Raghav Wadhawan

Executive Director | Standard Chartered Bank

Raghav Wadhawan is an Executive Director at Standard Chartered Bank. Based in London, he is part of the Sponsors Coverage team which is a global coverage team focused on origination and execution of transactions for Private Equity Funds across the fund and asset level. His focus is on covering Sponsors across Private Equity, Real Estate, Credit, and Infrastructure sectors and on a global basis. Raghav is responsible for supporting Sponsor clients with fund facilities, ranging across Subscription, Hybrid, NAV, and GP Financing. Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, Raghav worked at Lehman Brothers. He has an Economics degree from the London School of Economics and a Masters in Finance from Imperial College. Raghav is also a CFA charterholder and part of the FFA EMEA Executive Committee.

Jill Wilson

MD, Global Head of Financial Sponsors

Lloyds Bank

EMEA Advisory Council

Haakon Blakstad

Chief Commercial Officer

Validus Risk Mangement

Haakon Blakstad

Chief Commercial Officer | Validus Risk Mangement

Haakon Blakstad has more than 15 years’ experience in financial services and capital markets, having previously worked in front office roles at Visa, Hoare Capital, and Société Générale. During his career he has built strong relationships with institutional investors and alternative investment managers globally, and in recent years has been instrumental in the delivery of risk management solutions to managers with several hundred billion dollars in combined AUM. Haakon holds a BA with honours in Business Management from Newcastle University.

Jen Yee Chan

Partner

Simmons & Simmons

Jeremy Cross

Partner

Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Jeremy Cross

Partner | Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Jeremy is a vastly experienced loan finance lawyer, with particular expertise in fund finance and real estate finance. He trained at Cameron Markby Hewitt (now CMS) and after spending time in house as a legal adviser at HSBC was the head of Finance at SJ Berwin LLP (and subsequently Head of European Finance at its successor Firm, King & Wood Mallesons LLP) for a total of 10 years. After leaving King & Wood Mallesons LLP, Jeremy joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in 2016 where he set up the European arm of its Fund Finance practice and then joined Addleshaw Goddard in spring 2021.

Jeremy has long been recognised as a leader in his field and has been chosen in the past as one of the "Hot 100" by "The Lawyer".

Jeremy's clients on the lender side include a number of UK and international banks including Citi, JP Morgan, Natixis, SMBC, Raiffeisen Bank and RBSI and on the borrower side a number of funds and corporates.

Lee Doyle

Partner

Ashurst

Spencer Goss

Senior Director

RBS International

Richard Fletcher

Partner

Macfarlanes

Richard Fletcher

Partner | Macfarlanes

Richard is a partner in Macfarlanes finance team. He advises financial institutions, asset managers and corporates on a wide range of structured finance and fund finance transactions.

His practice includes advising on:

subscription line, NAV, GP and other fund financings;
secured and unsecured receivables financing, asset based lending and speciality finance;
structured products;
securitisations (both cash and synthetic) across various asset classes;
pensions risk transfer collateral structures; and
debt capital markets issues, including MTNs, convertibles and exchangeables.

Recent highlights include advising:

a market leading asset management firm on subscription facilities in excess of €2bn for a number of funds in respect of which it acts as portfolio manager;
a multi-asset fund management firm on a capital call facility for their third fund;
a European investment manager on its bridge facility for its latest fund;
a UK private equity firm on its bridge facility for its latest fund;
Alcentra on bridge facilities for various of its direct lending, strategic credit and securitised credit funds;
a global asset management firm on its bridge facilities for its unlevered and levered funds; and
17Capital LLP on a number of its structured fund finance transactions.

Sarah Francis

Partner

Maples Group

Sarah Francis

Partner | Maples Group

Sarah is a partner of Maples and Calder's Banking and Finance team in the Maples Group's Dublin office. Sarah has extensive experience advising on domestic and cross-border banking transactions. Sarah's practice focuses on advising lenders and borrowers in relation to corporate debt facilities, fund financing, acquisition financing, real estate financing (investment and development), fund financing and debt restructurings.

Sarah was elected as a partner in 2016. Prior to joining the Maples Group, she worked in the banking team at Allen & Overy in London and Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester. IFLR 2021 has ranked Sarah as 'Highly Regarded' and clients attest that Sarah is "Very clear communication, technically very strong and very personable" and "Excellent project management skills, customer service, attention to detail, responsiveness, knowledge of their field and communication". In Chambers Europe 2021, clients report that Sarah is "really commercial" and note her ability to give "sensible, commercial advice". She attracts further praise for her direct involvement in matters. Her broad practice encompasses real estate development finance, acquisition finance and loan-on-loan facilities.

Member of the Law Society of Ireland
Member of 100 Women in Finance

Amira Hajili

Head of Equity Bridge and Hybrid Fund Financing

Natixis

Guillaume Hartog

Managing Director | Head Subscription Finance

BNP Paribas

Stuart McIntosh

APAC Vice Chair

SMBC

Stuart McIntosh

European Head of Subscription Finance | SMBC

Stuart McIntosh is Executive Director, Head of European Subscription Finance at SMBC. Based in London his focus is on originating, structuring and execution of subscription credit facilities whilst also working with SMBC colleagues to deliver the bank’s global product suite to Private Equity Sponsor clients.

Prior to joining SMBC in 2019, Stuart was European Head of Sponsor Coverage & Subscription Finance at Commonwealth Bank of Australia London. He started his career at HSBC where he spent 10yrs in various investment management client coverage and support roles. Stuart is a graduate of Brunel University where he majored in Business.

Marcus Carrington Palmer

Managing Director, Head of Lending - Fund Finance

RBC

Sharman, Aimee (Mayer Brown International LLP)

Aimee Sharman

Partner

Mayer Brown International LLP

Aimee Sharman

Partner | Mayer Brown International LLP

Aimee Sharman is a partner in the Banking & Finance practice of the London office. She has a broad client base across multiple fund and asset classes (private equity funds, credit funds, infrastructure funds, secondary funds, real estate funds, emerging market funds, hedge funds and more), acting for both borrowers and lenders on a wide range of financing products across the fund finance sector. Her extensive experience includes advising on bridge financing, GP support or co-investment facilities, fund of funds financing, NAV/asset backed facilities or hybrid facilities and preferred equity solutions.

Ian Taylor

Managing Director | Head of EMEA Fund Finance

ING

Ian Taylor

Managing Director | Head of EMEA Fund Finance | ING

Ian joined ING in 2001 to set up the Fund Finance team in London. He is a Managing Director and Head of ING’s Fund Finance operation in EMEA with teams based in London and Luxembourg.

Ian’s team are responsible for the origination, execution and portfolio management of subscription and NAV facilities to funds managed by Financial Sponsors and Asset Management firms based in the EMEA region.

Ian is a member ING’s management team which determines the bank’s global strategy for Fund Finance. He has over 30 years of banking experience and has previously worked for JP Morgan and Robert Fleming.

Nicola Wherity

Partner

Clifford Chance

Vassiliyan Zanev

Partner

Loyens & Loeff

Vassiliyan Zanev

Partner | Loyens & Loeff

Vassiliyan Zanev co-chairs the Investment Management group of Loyens & Loeff and leads the fund finance practice of Loyens & Loeff in Luxembourg. He represents a variety of financial institutions, investment funds and corporations across a range of structured finance and lending transactions, with particular emphasis on fund finance, securitisation and real estate finance. Vassiliyan has extensive experience in the financing of Luxembourg alternative or regulated investment fund borrowers (including by way of capital call subscription credit facilities and permanent leverage solutions). Vassiliyan is a member of the EMEA Advisory Council of the Fund Finance Association.