Pengana appoints leaders for private credit division

Pengana Capital Group has named those who will lead its recently launched private credit business, appointing Nehemiah Richardson as managing director and chief executive and Charles Finkelstein as chief investment officer.

Richardson and Finkelstein will lead Pengana Credit, which aims to revolutionise previously hard-to-access global private credit for Australian investors.

Richardson most recently worked at Latitude Financial Services as its general manager of corporate development and investor relations.

Prior to that, he held a position at J.P. Morgan as its executive director of financial institutions and at Merrill Lynch as vice president of investment banking. He also spent over a year at National Australia Bank running its commercial banking and strategic business units.

Finkelstein has moved over from Citigroup where he spent the past 33 years. Throughout his tenure he held the roles of managing director, country treasurer for Citi Australia, and head of G10 markets treasury Asia Pacific.

Pengana said Finkelstein has been tasked with oversight and management of its private credit manager portfolio, which recently received a $200 million investment from partner Washington H. Soul Pattinson.

Both appointments have been called a major win for Pengana Credit by the group's chief executive Russel Pillemer.

"We are delighted to have Nehemiah and Charles on board. They have established themselves as outstanding operators in banking and financial services, and their appointments speak volumes about the immense potential and scale of the opportunities in global private credit," he said.

"When combined with the previous commitment from our joint venture partners, Soul Patts, we're incredibly excited to have brought this calibre of talent together."

Nehemiah added Pengana and Soul Patts have assembled a compelling and unprecedented platform for global private credit investment.

"I'm delighted to be involved in this opportunity. We've seen private credit explode as an asset class, and I see huge scope for Pengana as a major player in this space," he said.

Meanwhile, Finkelstein referred to Pengana Credit as one of the most exciting initiatives he has worked on yet.

"These are great operators with a track record of innovation, and unlocking previously inaccessible global investments for Australian investors," he said.

"Global private credit continues to grow and offers some outstanding diversified investment opportunities, and we are going to give Australian investors a unique chance to participate in this thriving sector."