Hillhouse Hires Ex-Deutsche Bank’s Hari for Private Credit

Bei Hu and Saikat Das, Bloomberg News

A silhouetted pedestrian outside a train station in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021. Hospitalizations due to coronavirus in Australia’s most-populous state have reached the highest level since mid-October, as a surge in omicron cases throughout most of the nation pressures the health system. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Asia-based asset manager Hillhouse has hired Deutsche Bank AG’s Siddhartha Hari to help expand private credit investments, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Hari, who oversaw loans and structured credit in North Asia for the German lender, will join the Singapore office of Hillhouse this month as co-head of private credit, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

A spokesman for Hillhouse declined to comment. Kate Fields, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, said Hari left the bank in April.

The rise of direct lending, where asset managers make loans directly to companies or entrepreneurs, has been one of the biggest shifts in debt markets in recent years. Global private debt assets under management are seen hitting $2.3 trillion by 2027, according to research firm Preqin Ltd.

While Asia accounts for only a small portion of the global stock of lending, it is growing quickly.

Despite making a name for itself as an early backer of Chinese technology firms such as Tencent Holdings Ltd., JD.com Inc. and Meituan, Hillhouse is increasingly investing outside of China. The asset manager has made private credit investments in the past, as part of its broader credit business, said the person.