Exclusive: DealCatalyst’s Jade Friedensohn on the evolution of private credit
DealCatalyst runs capital markets events globally, connecting borrowers and investors to facilitate deal flow. Co-founder Jade Friedensohn talks to Alternative Credit Investor about the important role that conferences can play in supporting the evolution of private credit
Jade Friedensohn, chief executive and co-founder of capital markets events company DealCatalyst is navigating motherhood alongside entrepreneurship and tells me she has a “new boss” these days – her three-month-old son.
“It’s funny, I started my own company and now I answer to a new boss,” she says.
“He’s three months old, he’s 15 pounds and so far, he’s very bossy – but I love this boss.”
Friedensohn has built up DealCatalyst into a highly successful events business that spans multiple continents and an array of financial sectors including asset-based finance and direct lending.
She likes to refer to DealCatalyst as her “first baby” and is pleased to say that it is now “running and walking and talking”.
Friedensohn has around two decades of experience in managing financial conferences, having previously worked at Information Management Network, a division of Euromoney Institutional Investor, before taking the plunge and starting her own company.
“You can really fool yourself into thinking comfort is safety, but I actually think it’s the opposite,” she says. “The more comfortable you are, the more dangerous it can be.”
Evolution of private credit
Friedensohn is excited about the evolution of the private credit space and explains what an important role conferences can play in supporting the industry.
“I think private credit is a poorly understood sector because of how quickly it’s evolving,” she asserts.
“The conference is so pivotal in education and connecting people.
“It’s a very exciting space to be in as an organiser because you’re so needed. You really can deliver value as opposed to the world I came from where it’s a well-oiled machine, and you really just have to order a tea and coffee and provide a nice menu, and it gets on by itself.
“Here, people are looking to us to help make introductions and to help them understand. When I look at alternative credit, I think, where do we want to live? At that edge of disruption or at that edge where we can intermediate? We can play the role of the bank by introducing borrowers and investors.”
DealCatalyst is hosting ABSF Global 2024 at the Royal Lancaster London on Monday 25 November, focused on the asset-based finance market that is estimated to be a $20tn (£15.8tn) opportunity.
Friedensohn reflects on the traditional bank financing that used to dominate the ABF market and the new alternative lenders that are now taking market share.
“It’s really nice to see the evolution of the credit funds in this space, both as alternative lenders, but also in partnership with banks, because at the end of the day, who’s funding the fund?” she says.
“It still flows back to the banks. Maybe it’s not a specialty finance team at the bank, it’s the fund finance team. That’s what’s so interesting about the ecosystem. You can say that we’re moving on or we’re disintermediating banks, but I say, no, we’re just finding new hats for everyone to wear.”
2025 and beyond
At DealCatalyst, it’s all systems go, with new events planned in the UAE, Toronto and Mexico City.
There’s also product expansion – DealCatalyst did its first significant risk transfer conference in the US recently – and a relentless focus on the key areas of growth.
“I think if you had to talk about three horses in the race, you have direct lending out of the gate first, but you have asset-based finance, a close second, which I think will eventually overtake direct lending in terms of the total market opportunity,” Friedensohn says.
“And then the third horse that no one saw coming is fund finance, although it remains to be seen where the third horse finishes. But I think we have a bet on every horse in that race in 2025.”
Alternative Credit Investor is a media partner to ASBF Global, so make sure to pick up your copy of your magazine at the event on Monday 25 November.
Alternative Credit Investor’s founder and editor-in-chief Suzie Neuwirth will be moderating two panels: ‘Track B: Funding Considerations: Investment Trends in Asset Based Finance’ and the ‘Women in Credit Luncheon: Innovations and risks in ABF’.
