KBRA Appoints Eric Neglia as Head of Global Funds Business as Private Credit Marches Toward Asset-Backed Lending

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KBRA is pleased to announce the following senior management appointments.

Eric Neglia has been named Global Head of KBRA’s expanding Funds Ratings business. In conjunction, Thomas Speller has been appointed Global Head of Fund Finance, and will continue to lead KBRA’s European Funds business.

“Eric’s decades of experience in asset-backed securitizations injects important analytic thought leadership into our 50+ analytical team dedicated to funds ratings—particularly now as the private credit industry marches aggressively toward asset-backed lending strategies. His management and analytical experiences make him a perfect fit to lead KBRA’s rapidly expanding Funds Ratings business and its hundreds of rated transactions,” said William Cox, KBRA’s Global Head of Corporate Financial, and Government Ratings.

Cox also said, “Tom Speller is not just KBRA’s Fund Finance leader—he is a thought leader for the whole market’s increasing use of credit ratings in both NAV financings and subscription lines.”

Eric Neglia was previously the Global Head of ABS where he was responsible for KBRA’s ABS analytical effort, including credit rating methodologies, rating assignment processes, and surveillance. He was named Global Head of ABS in May 2023 and previously served as KBRA’s Head of Consumer and Commercial ABS, and prior to that led the organization’s Consumer ABS effort. Over his nine-year tenure with the firm, Eric has made significant contributions to enhancing KBRA’s ABS analytical efforts in regard to both existing and emerging asset classes. Prior to joining KBRA in 2015, Eric was Head of Operational Risk Management at MasterCard Worldwide and also spent 15 years at MBIA Insurance Corporation, where he underwrote consumer ABS transactions.

Thomas Speller is a Managing Director and more recently the Head of European Funds at KBRA UK. Tom joined KBRA in 2021 and focuses on the rating of fund finance transactions including subscription lines and NAV loans. Prior to joining KBRA, Tom was an executive director at Goldman Sachs International, where from 2006 he worked as a credit risk analyst covering a variety of industries and products, with a particular focus on the funds industry, including private equity funds and hedge funds, as well as structured lending.

KBRA is a leader in private markets credit ratings and assessments. KBRA has performed more than 3,500 credit assessments or credit ratings for middle market borrowers in private credit portfolios. In addition, KBRA has issued ratings for over 250 fund finance transactions and more than 200 private asset-backed finance transactions, as well as over 150 feeder note transactions and 32 BDCs. We also maintain credit ratings on 50 of the world’s leading private asset managers and rate more than 100 middle market CLOs and dozens of other private credit, private equity, or secondaries facilities.

About KBRA

KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered in the U.S., the EU, and the UK, and is designated to provide structured finance ratings in Canada. KBRA’s ratings can be used by investors for regulatory capital purposes in multiple jurisdictions.

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