Macquarie chooses first head of private credit and asset finance

Peter Glaser joined Macquarie Asset Management as global head of its private credit and asset finance team.

The position is new. The private credit offering spans solutions across infrastructure, real estate and structured credit, and has $11.4 billion in assets under management. The firm also invests in movable transportation assets through its $1.7 billion asset finance business, which includes the leasing of aircraft, rotorcraft and rail assets.

Mr. Glaser started Monday, said Ben Way, group head in an interview. He is based in London.

"We think private credit is an exciting area. We've built a very good infrastructure private credit book, and increasingly have moved into real estate credit. We brought in Peter Glaser to help us accelerate what we are doing in the space," Mr. Way said.

In January, data provider Preqin said the global private debt market is set to hit $2.69 trillion in assets under management by 2026.

Mr. Glaser's appointment brings additional experience, an alternate viewpoint and new relationships to Macquarie, "and will help us to turbocharge the opportunity we see," Mr. Way said.

The private credit opportunity is particularly relevant now. "And particularly in the sorts of markets we find ourselves in today, we have a lot of investors who want to back managers with real expertise — sometimes they want to do that from an equity point of view, other times they want to do it via debt. We're building a deeper and broader relationship with them. In an era when trust is paramount, investors are putting a premium on partnership. It is incumbent on us to continue to do a great job on our existing strategies, but we have to consider what else we can do well, to provide our clients with more options," Mr. Way said.

Macquarie had a total $579 billion in assets under management as of March 31, across equities, fixed income, infrastructure, real estate, agriculture and other strategies.

Mr. Glaser was most recently head of European direct lending at Alcentra. He was also a portfolio manager for Alcentra's European direct lending funds and was responsible for about $10 billion in assets under management. He has also held roles at KKR & Co., Barclays and Goldman Sachs.

Alcentra did not appoint a direct replacement when Mr. Glaser left in 2021, a spokeswoman said. CEO Jonathan DeSimone "has been actively involved as interim CIO of private credit," with support from the wider team including Howard Sharp, head of origination; Joanna Layton, head of portfolio monitoring; and Alex Walker, head of structuring, she added.

Alcentra's parent company BNY Mellon Investment Management in May agreed to sell the European credit and private debt manager to Franklin Templeton. The deal is set to be completed early next year.