Ms. Haller is a Managing Director in the Ares Credit Group, where she focuses on European direct lending. She heads the Frankfurt team with responsibility for DACH and CEE. Prior to joining Ares in 2009, Ms. Haller was an Associate in the Leveraged Finance team at Dresdner Kleinwort, where she focused on originating and structuring transactions in German speaking countries. Previously, Ms. Haller was an Assistant Manager in the Acquisition Finance team at Allied Irish Banks. Ms. Haller holds a B.Comm. first class honours, from University College Dublin in International Business.

Benjamin Zülch is Head of Direct Lending Germany at Intermediate Capital Group. He is responsible for origination and execution of investment opportunities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Bernd is a partner at Mayer Brown International LLP. Qualified to practice law in New York, England & Wales as well as Germany, he advises his clients on a broad range of capital markets and lending transactions, including investment grade and leveraged finance / sub-investment grade transactions as well as restructurings.
In recent years, his practice has had a particular focus on European high yield bond and leveraged lending transactions, but he also regularly advises on transactions (including benchmark-size transactions) involving investment grade or cross-over issuers / borrowers, including bilateral and syndicated loans as well as SEC-registered bond offerings, Rule 144A offerings and Reg. S offerings. A significant part of his practice involves cross-border transactions and he has advised clients from a broad range of industries.
Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2011, Bernd worked in the New York, London and Hong Kong offices of other large international law firms. In addition to his prior law firm experience, he spent a year on secondment in the corporate legal department at Novartis AG in Switzerland. He is a member of AFME’s High Yield Board and a member of the Legal and Regulatory Compliance Committee of AFME’s High Yield Division.

Bernina Butt is a partner in the Frankfurt office of Mayer Brown's Banking & Finance practice. She advises corporates, financial institutions and private equity investors in connection with a broad range of finance work, including acquisition, leveraged and real estate finance and restructurings.
Bernina’s international perspective and diverse experience, which encompasses human rights, corporate and commercial law, asset and project finance and banking, enable her to craft unique solutions for clients.
Before joining Mayer Brown, Bernina worked for two Magic Circle law firms in Frankfurt and London, a leading Canadian law firm and various human rights organisations, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the United Nations in New York.

Gary Simmons is the Managing Director of the AFME High Yield division, for which he leads AFME’s efforts to lower costs and increase efficiency in the execution of high-yield transactions, and lobbies for the reform of corporate insolvency laws. He also heads the AFME Prime Services division, which monitors business, legal and regulatory issues affecting the prime brokerage industry, and provides advocacy for member positions.

Gary is a New York-qualified lawyer and was previously a senior associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. After an initial period in New York, Gary spent several years in London, gaining extensive experience in cross border and emerging markets debt transactions, particularly high-yield bond issuances and leveraged loans.

Gary has a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law (with honors) and a Bachelor of Arts (with highest honors) from Rutgers University. Following law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Walls of the United States Federal District Court, District of New Jersey.

Joerg Krafft is Co-Head of Commerzbank’s Leveraged Markets team based in London.
Joerg has a long-standing experience in the leveraged finance space, having previously worked as a Director in the European Leveraged Finance Origination team at Commerzbank and as a Director in the High Yield & Leveraged Loan Origination EMEA and Leveraged Finance EMEA teams at BNP Paribas group in London, Munich and Frankfurt.
As a specialist for leveraged financings, Joerg’s areas of expertise include the origination, structuring, underwriting, execution and distribution of high yield bonds and leveraged loans for private equity sponsored leveraged buyouts and corporate issuers.

Jonas is part of Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Debt Capital Markets team in Europe, based in Frankfurt. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Jonas was a Director in Credit Suisse’s European Financial Sponsors Group and responsible for financial sponsor coverage in Germany. He has over 9 years’ experience in leveraged finance including LBOs, acquisition financings, refinancings and restructurings. Previous professional experience includes M&A and leveraged finance roles in Frankfurt, Sydney and London at Nomura and Lehman Brothers.

Markus Freund is a Managing Director in Perella Weinberg Partners’ Advisory business. He focuses on advising clients in capital structure advisory, restructuring, liability management, distressed M&A and private capital solutions.
Mr. Freund has almost 15 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Freund was at PJT Partners, where he was a Director in the Restructuring and Special Situations Group.
Mr. Freund earned a Diploma in Business Administration and a Diploma in Languages, Cultural Studies and Economics from the University of Passau.

Martin is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, Head of Global Capital Markets (“GCM”) at Morgan Stanley Europe SE. He is also EMEA Head of Investment Grade Acquisition Finance and EMEA Co-Head of Leveraged Capital Markets within the firm’s GCM business, based in Frankfurt. Martin joined Morgan Stanley in 2005, working in the Leveraged and Acquisition Finance.
Martin also represents the firm on Capital Markets boards and committees of industry organisations in EMEA, including the Association for Financial Markets (“AFME”) in Europe and is a board member at the Loan Market Association (“LMA”).
Before joining Morgan Stanley, Martin worked in Leveraged Finance at HypoVereinsbank (HVB, now UniCredit). Martin holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from the University of London.

Michael is a Director in the EMEA Leveraged Finance team and based in Frankfurt. In his current role he is responsible for managing the bank's Leveraged Finance origination efforts in DACH region for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He is involved in sourcing and executing leveraged loans and high yield bonds for sponsor portfolio companies and corporates in the region.
Prior to joining Bank of America in July 2021, Michael spent more than 10 years at Credit Suisse in London and Frankfurt, where he worked in the Leveraged Finance team for EMEA with a particular focus on German clients and in the Financial Sponsor Group dealing with Leveraged Finance for sponsor clients and sponsor coverage.
Approx. 75 financings for acquisitions, re-pricings and add-ons for financial sponsor owned portfolio companies and corporates with a focus on the DACH region.
Michael holds a Master in Finance and Investments from the European Business School ("ebs") in Oestrich-Winkel and the Stockholm School of Economics.

Joined Herter & Co. shortly after its inception in 2012 as Managing Partner. Previously held senior positions in Leveraged Finance and Sponsor Coverage at IKB, Augusta & Co. Merchant Bankers and Dresdner Kleinwort Investment Banking in London and Frankfurt.

Peter is a Director in the EMEA Leveraged & Acquisition Finance team and based in Frankfurt am Main. In his role he is responsible for delivering the bank's IG/Sub-IG Acquisition Finance and Sub-IG Refinancing offering across the DACH and NORDICs region. Peter sources and executes High Yield Bonds and Leveraged Loans for Corporates and Sponsor portfolio company clients.

Prior to joining HSBC in June 2015, Peter worked at KPMG AG in Duesseldorf and Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt and London. Peter has executed on a variety of transactions including inaugural HYs and TLBs, refi HYs/TLBs, A&Es, taps/add-ons, bridges, PIK notes and the like. He holds a Bachelor/Master degree in Finance from the European Business School ("ebs") in Oestrich-Winkel and also studied at University of Illinois and EDHEC Business School Nice.

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