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(Bloomberg) -- Dominic Ashcroft, head of leveraged finance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is leaving to join Blackstone Inc. in one of the most high-profile switches to date of an investment banker from Wall Street to a private credit firm.
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Ashcroft is set to join Blackstone Credit and Insurance in London as head of European private credit origination, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. He is stepping into a position previously held by Jurij Puth, who has left the firm after 18 years, the people said.
Spokespeople for Goldman Sachs and Blackstone declined to comment. Puth didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ashcroft’s departure, after around 23 years at the bank, is the latest in a string of marquee leveraged-finance names defecting to the private credit industry.
Among notable moves, Goldman’s Luke Gillam, who was sole head of EMEA credit finance capital markets, joined AlbaCore Capital Ltd. last year. Gillam’s previous role at Goldman had been co-head of EMEA credit finance capital markets, alongside Ashcroft. Also last year, Bank of America Corp.’s Murad Khaled joined Apollo Global Management Inc.
The high-profile moves are evidence of private capital firms’ emergence as a rival to banking’s traditional dominance of the lucrative corporate loan market. Recent volatility has intensified the competition as banks look for added protections around risk.
Private credit lenders are in advanced talks to strike a €6.25 billion ($6.7 billion) loan deal with online classifieds company Adevinta ASA, which would be among the largest of its kind. If the deal goes ahead, it would represent a blow to banks that pitched to refinance the company’s debt. Though bank debt is usually cheaper, private credit funds are better able to execute loans in uncertain times.
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