Abteilungsleiter Alternative Markets

Dr. Philipp Bunnenberg is Head of Alternative Markets at Bundesverband Alternative Investments e.V. (BAI) and is responsible for the association's activities in the areas of private & liquid alternative markets and public relations. After studying economics and business administration at the Universities of Potsdam, Münster, and Vigo, he initially worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Finance and Banking at the University of Potsdam. During this time, he completed his dissertation on closet indexing and risks in the ETF market. Dr. Bunnenberg is the host of multiple private markets conferences in Germany, a speaker on alternative investment-related topics at conferences throughout Europe, and the author of numerous publications.

Partner

Matthias Erb has been a partner at StepStone for over 20 years. He’s advising institutional investors in strategic, portfolio and structural requirements related to tailormade private market solutions. Matthias’ main focus is hereby currently the Private Debt asset class and investors in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. Matthias is also a member of StepStone’s insurance practice group which is one of our major client base.

All in all Matthias brings more than 27 years practical alternative investment knowhow to the table. After starting his career at Helvetia Insurance, Matthias was leading the global Alternative Risk Financing & Transfer business of Zurich Insurance for many years plus was a member of the structured finance team in New York.

Matthias is a member of the executive board of the Bundesverband Alternative Investments (BAI) in Germany, has a Master in Finance from the University of Zurich and is a CFA Charterholder.

Head of European Private Markets

Peter Arnold has more than 30 years' experience in the banking and asset management sector, where he has held various management positions, notably in business development, marketing and fundraising. At Schroders, Peter played a key role in the development of the “Schroders Capital” platform, dedicated to unlisted assets. Previously, Peter spent 19 years at Citigroup, initially in the Multi Asset Solutions team, before creating and leading the Private Funds Group business from 2009 to 2019. Peter began his career in sales at JP Morgan, Société Générale and UBS.

Managing Director, Private Credit (Europe)

Malek Ghali: Joined in 2010 - Managing Director, Private Credit (Europe). Malek joined Clearlake Credit as a member of the Investment Team. He is also a member of the Investment Committee. Prior to Clearlake Credit, Malek worked as an external auditor in Deloitte Lebanon, specialising in financial institutions. Malek holds a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance from Cass Business School London, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Finance) from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon).

Global Head of Middle Market Direct Lending

Matthew Harvey is a Managing Director and the Head of Middle Market Direct Lending, located in Chicago. He serves on Direct Lending’s Global Investment Committee, European Investment Committee and One-Stop Committee, and is responsible for all aspects of PGIM Credit’s middle market direct lending business, including managing the investment team that originates and underwrites Direct Lending investments, exercising portfolio management duties, and supporting fundraising efforts. He joined PGIM in 2003, originally on a team in the Chicago Corporate Finance office responsible for private placement investments throughout the Midwest region of the U.S. Matt then joined the middle-market mezzanine debt and structured equity fund management business in 2005 until 2012, when he relocated to the London office to lead PGIM’s mezzanine investment efforts in the U.K. and Europe.

He returned to Chicago in 2015 before leading PGIM’s Direct Lending initiative in 2018. Matt received a BS from DePaul University.

Head of Private Credit

Daniel Heine is a co-founder of Patrimonium and oversees all private credit activities at Patrimonium. Prior to the company’s formation, he worked as a Financial Consultant for Merrill Lynch International and before that, as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney. He studied Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen and received a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford. He also holds a Ph.D. of the University of St. Gallen.

CIO

Partner

Hans Stamm, an attorney and specialist in tax law, focuses his practice on alternative investment funds and structured asset management products, particularly with regard to the legal and tax structuring and implementation of these products. He also advises on the structuring and implementation of digital asset investment products (including crypto funds and tokenized fund structures).

Partner, Co-Head Direct Lending Europe

Christopher Bone is Head of Private Credit Europe and Asia, based in London. He is Co-Chairman of the Global Direct Credit Investment Committee, Chairman of the Direct Credit Europe and Asia Investment Committees, and a member of the Direct Credit US Investment Committee. He has been with Partners Group since 2010 and has 25 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at AlpInvest Partners, RBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. Christopher holds a master's degree in finance from the University of Durham, UK and is also a CFA charterholder.

Partner and Head of European Private Credit Investment

Toni is a Partner and founding member of Pantheon’s Global Private Credit Investment team and currently serves as Head of European Private Credit. Toni joined Pantheon in 2010. He previously worked in the private markets team at Cambridge Associates, where he advised institutional investors on their private market investment programs and conducted research and due diligence on private market funds, managers, and markets. Toni has an MPhil in economics from the University of Oxford and a BEng in engineering with business finance, which was jointly taught at University College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is fluent in Finnish, Spanish and English.

Investment Advisory Professional, Triton Debt Opportunities

Fady joined Triton Partners from Alchemy Partners, a London-based special situations’ fund. Prior to joining Alchemy, he had worked at the Merchant Banking division of Rothschild and J.P. Morgan. Fady has a Master of Science in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from the Imperial College London and a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut. 

Private Debt

Managing Director

Nicole is a Managing Director at Crescent Capital, focusing on European private credit. She joined Crescent in 2013 from Indigo Capital, a European specialist lending fund, where she was a Partner responsible for sourcing and leading debt and related equity investments in Germany and Switzerland, as well as executing deals in France and Central and Eastern Europe. She previously worked at BNP Paribas in Media & Telecom Finance in Paris and Frankfurt. Nicole began her career at Arthur Andersen in transaction support services in Frankfurt.

Nicole received an MA in Economics from Münster University and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Crescent is a global credit investment manager with approximately $53 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2026. For over 30 years, the firm has focused on non-investment grade credit through strategies that invest in marketable and privately originated debt securities including senior bank loans, high yield bonds, as well as private senior, unitranche and junior debt securities. Crescent is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Frankfurt with over 240+ employees globally. Crescent is a part of SLC Management, the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life. For more information about Crescent, visit www.crescentcap.com.

Portfolio Management DACH

Dr. Theo Weber, Managing Director, is Head of Origination of Private Debt in Germany within BlackRock International Fixed Income, responsible for the sourcing and execution of middle market direct bond investment opportunities in the German market. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2016 Theo was Head of GE Capital’s market leading Leveraged Finance team in Germany. With a team of eight he covered the German private equity market and led numerous mid-market transactions in leveraged finance. In addition, he was responsible for the GE/Ares joint venture in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). He joined GE Capital in 2007 with responsibility for healthcare investments (equity and debt). During his 9 years at GE he originated and executed numerous leveraged finance transactions across Europe including club transactions, syndicated lead deals and unitranche financings. He also represented GE in various occasions at private debt conferences and on panel discusisons. Prior to that he was leading Deloitte’s and PwC’s Private Equity Advisory practices closing several first time deals for UK private equity funds in Germany. Theo graduated at University Erlangen-Nuernberg and earned a PhD from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Senior Managing Director

Amer Khatoun is a Senior Managing Director in the Tactical Opportunities Group in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2014, Mr. Khatoun has been involved in the execution of the firm’s investments in De Nora, Beauparc, Superbet, HH Global, Lombard, NIBC, SII and Sia. He currently serves as director of HH Global, Sia, Sunotec and Superbet.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Khatoun was a Senior Associate with H.I.G. Capital in London where he was involved in the analysis and execution of mid-market private equity transactions across a number of sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Khatoun was an analyst with Goldman Sachs and Citi in London, where he worked in their Mergers & Acquisitions divisions.
Mr. Khatoun received a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol.