Deutsche Bank’s head of leveraged loan management has just switched to the buy-side

David Waill, the head of leveraged loan management at Deutsche Bank, has taken the well-trodden path towards private equity late on in his career.

Waill, who spent 18 years at Deutsche Bank, has just joined private equity firm Benefit Street Partners in New York as a managing director.

Investment banks’ leveraged finance divisions are prime hunting grounds for private equity firms, but most bankers make the move at analyst or associate level. A buy-side move is far more rare at the senior end of the career ladder, but Waill has made the switch after 28 years in investment banking.

Benefit Street Partners is a $20bn credit manager that offers leveraged loans, high yield, structured credit and commercial real estate debt. It has around 70 employees and is part of private equity firm Providence Equity.

Waill worked at Deutsche Bank for 18 years, having joined from Merrill Lynch in 1999, where he was also a managing director. He started at Merrill Lynch in 1989 after completing an MBA at New York University.

There’s been an unusual amount of movement among senior leverage finance bankers this year. This week, Toby Ali, the co-head of leveraged finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in EMEA, left to join Citigroup. Simon Francis, who previously worked at Credit Suisse, was also hired by Citigroup as co-head of leveraged finance earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Ray Doody, the had of EMEA leveraged finance at J.P. Morgan, left in January and turned up as HSBC’s head of leveraged and acquisition finance.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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