Tomorrow (8 March) marks the annual International Women’s Day, and there’s no sweeping under the rug that private credit — like most of the finance industry — is male-dominated.

Although senior women across the industry have told 9fin that gender diversity has improved through their careers — which is great — women are still heavily underrepresented, with only 23.2% of the European private credit workforce being women in 2024, according to Preqin data.

"I think we still have far to go,” said Smridhi Gulati, Partner in Cadwalader’s private credit group. “But it’s comforting to look across a number of the credit funds and finally see women in senior positions — it feels like it’s finally changing."

The fact that it is not longer unusual for senior positions to be taken up by women is certainly progress, but we can’t pat ourselves on the back and say ‘well done’ just yet. Women make up 37.3% of private credit junior roles in Europe, but they only take up 27.1% of mid-level roles and only 17.2% of senior roles, according to Preqin data.

"The biggest room for improvement remains in women’s progression. We need to understand where we lose them, and focus on the reasons behind that,” Cadwalader’s Gulati said.

Long-term thinking

Private credit is all about thinking long-term — it’s relationship banking rather than transactional banking. A similar approach needs to be taken when we think about a woman’s role in the private credit industry.

That point is particularly important when we think about personal goals, such as starting a family. Historically, this has had a far bigger impact on women’s careers than men’s, and although it is becoming increasingly equal, we often see women’s career progression halt or slow down at this point.

Maternity leave is often longer than paternity leave, which naturally creates differences in timelines and the amount of work being done in that period. It’s a tricky debate, because on one hand this systemic inbalance shouldn’t hinder women’s careers, but on the other hand it is difficult to reward someone for work they haven’t done.

Cassandra Fahy, co-head of origination for the UK at Pemberton said: “You can’t really say that ‘you have been out for a year, when you come back you will be at the exact same level as this other person’ — that’s unrealistic.”

However, long-term, maternity leave shouldn’t really make a difference. Fahy continued: “I have realised that in the grand scheme of your career, even for people that have taken two years out to have children, it’s absolutely irrelevant. When my maternity leave is five years behind me, it just won’t matter, there will be no difference versus me having been there that time or not.”

Excelling in your career and being a mother at the same time is certainly possible, and Fahy is a prime example. Having recently returned from maternity leave, she was promoted from managing director to co-head of origination for the UK last month.

"People may say ‘how did you do that because you were away?’. It’s a promotion that reflects what I’ve been doing for the last seven years at Pemberton and a good employer should recognise that work irrespective of me taking some time out.”

Additionally, we are seeing a shift in the new generation of fathers, market professionals told 9fin. Today’s new dads want to take on their fair share at home in order to be more present in their children’s upbringing, thereby narrowing those differences.

Fahy said: “I think that change in attitude is very positive for many reasons and we need to support it in the workplace through being considerate and flexible.

“I think men taking longer parental leave and experiencing the challenges of returning to work gives an insight to how it is for women a lot of the time, with many women having to go back and almost justify why they still have a job — having more men living those experiences will change attitudes.”

Supporting women — and all new parents — through these life changing events, is essential.

Fahy continued: “You have to nurture the middle ranks, many of our VPs are future leaders and we need them to feel supported and feel like we’re backing them to do the best job they possibly can.”

Aude Doyen, Lincoln’s managing director and co-head of capital advisory for Europe, agreed, saying flexibility is paramount: “Working from home can be a huge help. Before Covid, if you left early for personal reasons, people assumed you were done for the day. Now there’s more understanding that you can carry on remotely — and it’s important we make sure that’s allowed.”

Allowing parents to make it home in time for school pick ups, dinner, bed time, and all other day-to-day happenings that come with having kids, usually don’t impact the amount of work done, but even if it does: supporting employees through a time of lower productivity is usually less costly than the alternative.

Fahy said: “People tend to be more productive when they know they have a finite window to get stuff done, but even if that person is producing slightly less for a period of time when the children are young, it’s just irrelevant in the grand scheme of the company, and it’s irrelevant versus the cost and difficulty of finding a replacement.”

It goes beyond motherhood

Although becoming a mother is a huge life-event, and undoubtedly impacts every aspect of life, the inequality between men and women in private credit runs deeper than that.

Gulati said: “It’s easy to say losing women is linked to having children, but I don’t think it is — we shouldn’t underestimate how hard it is being the only woman (or one of very few women) in a constantly male-dominated room.

“Until we expand our thinking around mentorship and sponsorship through different parts of someone’s career, I think we will continue to lose women during their working life.”

It is true that in our careers, we often seek role models and we tend to look up to people we can relate to, people who have walked the path we’re starting on. And so increasing the prominence of women in leadership roles is important. Equally, we must create a transparent environment where one can be open about work-life-balance and personal hurdles that may rise.

Fahy said: “I want to set the expectation that you can succeed in your career and be a mother. I want younger colleagues to come to me with the uncomfortable questions, like ‘what time can I leave because I have to pick up the kids and I want to be able to see them in the evening’.

“It’s not something you should feel bad about and I will openly say that I work less hours now than before, but I get the same amount of work done.”

Another aspect to consider when supporting women in the workplace, is that in many instances women might find it more difficult to assert themselves and to promote their skills and achievements — especially if they feel they are in the minority. This tend to have an affect on progression.

Lincoln’s Doyen said: “Mentoring from senior women and targeted training can really help. Sometimes women aren’t as vocal as their male colleagues, so coaching on how to speak up in meetings is valuable. We want women to share their ideas when they have something to say.”

She continued: “I had a mentor who was a man, and he helped me progress from a junior to a mid-level role. Without his support, I’d have moved more slowly because he advocated for me and highlighted my work.”

No boys allowed

And this brings us to our next point — gender diversity isn’t women versus men. We need both to come together and work towards a mutual goal, and to do that we need men to be part of the conversation.

Fahy said: “Gender equality is very dependent on men believing it too, because if they’re not you’re just preaching to women and nothing happens.”

Together, industry leaders have to become aware of any subconscious biases they might have, and constantly work to create an equal workplace. Very often, we tend to favour people who are the most like us and who we can relate to. Being aware of this is a good place to start.

Doyen said: “You can’t fix that overnight. Holding DEI sessions at different levels can help people recognise unconscious biases. It’s not always malicious, but awareness is crucial. Without realising, you might be treating someone differently.”

Gulati agreed: “Leaders need to be thoughtful about hiring and then on who they bring to any particular meeting — we need to think ‘am I being equitable about opportunities, or am I just taking the person who is the most like me?”

European private credit pipeline

M&A may not have experienced the boom everyone was hoping for in Q4, but that has by no means led to an opportunity for slacking for 9fin’s private credit team…

In the fashion world, Scandinavian brands are hot, hot, hot, but it remains to see if this is the case in private credit. L Catterton has relaunched a sale process for Danish fashion brand Ganni, with Rothschild as advisor. The brand is being marketed off €28m of EBITDA and has a turnover of €180m.

Staying with the Scandis, direct lenders are proposing around €300-400m of PIK notes on top of syndicated debt to support EQT’s sale of Karo Healthcare. The potential PIK tranche could be levered at 1.5x-2.0x of Karo's roughly €200m EBITDA, with pricing at around 700-750bps.

In Austria, jewellery brand Swarovski has approached direct lenders for a refinancing of its debt. The family-owned crystal giant has appointed Rothschild to advise on the process.

You can read our weekly updated pipeline of new and in-market deals here. And if you’re a fan of this newsletter but aren’t yet a subscriber, email subscriptions@9fin.com for a trial.

Lastly: Happy International Women’s day everyone!