BNP Paribas Asset Management today (16 December) unveiled the appointment of two investment directors, Linda Fodil and Thibault Sartori, within the private debt team of its Private Assets investment division.

Both are based in Paris and will report to Christophe Carrasco, head of private debt.

In line with the success of BNP Paribas European SME Debt Funds, that have deployed €1.7bn to finance 250 companies since 2016, the Private Debt team is launching, in addition to the existing senior debt offer, a Direct Lending Strategy offering unitranche and junior debt financial instruments, with a strong sponsorship of BNP Paribas Group.

The Fund mostly targets Private Equity sponsor-backed corporates incorporated in Western European countries and aims to have a role of lead or co-arranger for financing Midcaps posting EBITDA in the range of €5-30m.

Christophe Carrasco, head of private debt, BNP Paribas Assets Management said: “We’re glad to have Linda and Thibault joining the team to support and accelerate the development of our unitranche strategy.

"The team’s credit knowledge is a strong key differentiating factor to select the best counterparties and provide the best risk-return profile. Besides, this strategy shares the same investment universe as BNPP European SME Debt Funds, providing corporates and private equity sponsors such as shareholders a choice between senior and junior debt or unitranche.”

Linda Fodil has over 20 years of experience in SME financing and investment. Previously, she worked seven years at AXA IM in the Private Debt team as a senior investment professional and voting member of the Investment Committee, focused on senior debt and unitranche transactions across Europe.

Previously, Fodil spent 10 years in the Leveraged Finance origination team of HSBC in Paris, where she started her career as analyst and was promoted Director in 2016. In her role, she focused on the origination and structuring of French LBO transactions for midcaps.

She graduated from Paris-Dauphine University where she holds a Master’s in Finance.

Sartori has over 10 years of experience in the Direct Lending industry.

He was previously investment director in the Private Debt team of LFPI that he joined in 2014. In this position, he supported and coordinated the development of the direct lending activity in both senior, unitranche and mezzanine transactions mainly on the small and mid-cap markets.

He was focused on origination and execution as well as portfolio monitoring. Prior to this, he worked in the Financial Sponsors Solutions team of UniCredit in Paris where he was active in the execution of mid and large cap leverage buy-out financings for various top tier private equity funds. He also had an experience in a CLO fund at Natixis CIB.

Sartori holds a Master’s degree in Investment Banking and Capital Markets with a specialization in Corporate Finance from Paris-Dauphine University.