Who We Are

I read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds. However, towards the latter half of my degree I became increasingly interested in a career in the financial services sector. The fast-paced environment and variety of work appealed to me.

I aspired to work for an investment management company in a decision-making role and with the long-term goal of becoming a portfolio manager.

One of the best characteristics about Muzinich is that, despite its moderate size, it remains a personable and agile business due to the strong culture and flat hierarchical structure. Employees are respected and encouraged to shoulder responsibility while being stimulated to innovate and drive their own initiatives.

I started in the Risk & Operations team which granted me excellent exposure to the different business lines and enabled me to create strong working relationships with people across the firm. Career progression is endorsed, and I was supported when I expressed an interest in transferring to the investment team.

Retaining a strong, inclusive, and supportive culture is at the heart of Muzinich and is a key criterion for anyone joining the firm. The office is a fun and social place, where you get to work alongside ambitious and likeminded people with a strong focus on relationships and teamwork. Employees are treated with respect and opinions and thoughts are valued regardless of seniority.

I would strongly recommend Muzinich as a place to work and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. It is a fast-paced environment where you are given responsibility early but within a culture that supports and enables you to thrive.

Having always been interested in mathematical problem-solving, logic, rigorous analysis and numerical modelling, I choose to study Engineering at Christ Church, Oxford. Despite thoroughly enjoying it, I graduated knowing that Engineering was not the career I wished to pursue. In the last two years of my degree, I spent my summers at large financial institutions, ultimately joining the wealth management division of one of the world’s largest banks in 2010.

After completing my graduate programme, I wanted to move to a smaller and more specialised outfit. I was keen to find a part of the investment world that interested me and in which I could become a specialist. I applied to Muzinich in 2012 for a role in the marketing team - looking after UK clients - although I understood that there could be opportunities to work with the investment team at a later point.

I was eager to learn about the world of corporate credit, the different strategies within the asset class, and the fundamental credit analysis behind Muzinich’s investment decisions. The company seemed friendly, professional, and was not concerned that I didn’t yet have a 5- or 10-year career plan - I was still finding my feet.

Alongside servicing UK clients, I was supported to complete my CFA; helped write white papers on credit investing; built risk models with the investment team using the skills I had learnt at university; and begin to develop an understanding of credit investing.

The opportunity arose for me to transfer to the investment team as a Junior Analyst. The more senior analysts welcomed me wholeheartedly and allowed me the time and space to develop.

I initially covered the European investment grade market and later issuers in European high yield and emerging markets. I became a specialist in the utilities, real estate, metals and mining and transportation sectors, working closely with Portfolio Managers - particularly those managing Muzinich's crossover strategies.

In 2019 I was given the chance to step up as a Co-Portfolio Manager of those crossover strategies and helped launch our Global Short Duration Investment Grade strategy. Today I co-manage the firm’s European investment grade and crossover strategies, alongside Tatjana Greil-Castro and the firm’s other Portfolio Managers.

I’ve been with Muzinich for many years and, while the firm has grown considerably both in terms of assets under management and employees, it continues to offer a specialist, collegiate and entrepreneurial environment to all. 

It’s a place that supports professional development. It is a place open to taking people of all ages and backgrounds forwards to help them reach their full potential.

My experience has been one of encouragement, education, hard work, constructive criticism and collaboration. I would encourage anybody contemplating a career in corporate credit - and anyone already in the industry - to consider Muzinich, should they be looking for a new professional direction, opportunity, or to take their career to the next level.

I attended Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of China’s oldest and top universities, and at first studied electrical engineering. However, I really enjoy mathematics and logical thinking and managed to change my major to economics after a year, which I found to be a much better fit.

After graduation I moved to Hong Kong to pursue a master’s degree in Economics at the University of Hong Kong. I started my career as an equity analyst on the buy side focusing on China equities, before I changed my career focus to a credit-based role on syndicated loans. In 2016, I moved to the UK to join my husband who at that time was pursuing his PhD degree. Muzinich was hiring for an Asian-focused credit analyst and, because of my previous work experience in syndicated loans covering the greater China area and equity experience, I was a good fit for the role. I felt a role focused on public markets was a better fit for me in terms of my analytical approach. I also decided that credit is a great area for a long-term career path.

Looking at a company through the lens of a credit analyst allows you to dig much deeper into how the company works and I find it more interesting and challenging than the equity work I have done in the past. I meet management teams and really get to understand how a company operates, its balance sheet and cash flow, and increasingly its environmental, social and governance activities. It also requires a more consistent yet open mindset and deep analytical skills.

Over time, my analytical coverage has changed as the emerging markets team has evolved. My analytical coverage started off focusing on broader Asia then Greater China, then Greater China high yield, and now I’m focusing on Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.

It’s a very friendly environment. Teamwork is very important, but we are also allowed the flexibility to do what we want to do, which encourages our entrepreneurial side. It’s also a more tolerant environment – if you make a mistake then we discuss it together as a team to explore what happened and why to improve for next time.

From my experience in the investment team, I would encourage others to consider a career here. While analyst roles in larger companies can be quite siloed, here we work closely with lots of different areas of the investment team and beyond. Daily interaction with the traders enables us to find out the current risk appetite in the market and the portfolio managers listen to the analysts and their recommendations. It makes me feel like I’m really contributing to something and that my voice is heard. It’s a very satisfying place to work.

I grew up in Jersey and went to the University of Huddersfield to study surface design for fashion and interiors. It was an enjoyable experience, and I learnt a lot. But, at the end of my three-year course I realised it was not something I wanted to take forward into a career and would rather keep my creativity for my personal hobby.

When I moved back to Jersey, I took a job working for a multinational financial services company in their document management and compliance department which gave me my first taste of financial services.

While Jersey had been my home, I wanted to see more of the world and moved to London where I worked for a major retail and commercial bank as well as a head-hunting company. However, I was still on the look out for a longer-term career path that suited me.

In 2014 I was offered a fixed term contract role at Muzinich as a team assistant. Soon after, the existing office manager left the firm, and I was promoted to the role.

The position seemed very diverse and the team I had met during the interview process, which included the company’s founder and chairman, George Muzinich, were all very welcoming.

As part of the role, I managed staff absences and other HR related issues which gave me my first taste of HR as a career. I found I really enjoyed it – especially dealing with so many different people on a day-to-day basis.

As the firm grew, a dedicated HR Director was hired, and I was given the chance to work very closely with her which enabled me to learn on the job. Meanwhile I studied for and successfully completed my CIPD HR accreditation. I was given help and support throughout my career transition and felt welcomed and encouraged by all my colleagues. I was made a full-time member of the HR team in October 2018.

The firm has a very flat structure and a focus on teamwork. The culture is very professional but also extremely friendly and there is a great feeling of community within the office. If you’re not scared of hard work, it’s a very rewarding place to work. If you are willing to put in the effort you can really progress.

After finishing college in Mauritius, where I grew up, I moved to Australia to undertake my tertiary studies. I completed my undergraduate degree in commerce at the University of Melbourne and a masters degree in accounting at Monash University. I then returned to Mauritius where I joined PwC and trained for three years as an auditor while also completing my professional accounting qualifications with CPA Australia. During my time with PwC, I had the opportunity to audit companies in different industries and this included financial services. In my last year, I audited several investment holding entities and as a result decided to move overseas to broaden my experience in financial services.

I took up a role with KPMG Jersey in the Channel Islands. The entities I audited here were more complex than what I previously worked on. It was a challenging but fruitful time learning the different structures, the legal environment within which the entities operated, the various investments and valuation methods.

I then moved on to BNP Paribas Securities Services in the Channel Islands joining as a senior fund accountant in the debt team. During my time here, I learnt about accounting systems, the bookkeeping process, invoice payment process, financial statements preparation among other things but more crucially, the importance of controls and proper detailed reviews. Mistakes at times proved costly and investigation into those often revealed that detailed reviews had not been carried out. I also had the opportunity to further develop my ‘people’ skills by carrying out interviews, managing direct reports and undertaking appraisals and regular 1-2-1s. I moved up the ranks to manager and associate director during my time with BNP Paribas Securities Services.

I relocated to London because of my partner taking up employment here. I joined Muzinich in May 2021 in the Private Debt Operations and Admin team. I am involved in the accounting and financial reporting for our private debt funds – this could involve getting payments done through the funds’ administrators to reviewing quarterly NAV production and reporting to investors to undertaking equalization calculations. Since I have been here, I have managed to build on my prior experience and knowledge while still using that prior experience and knowledge on a daily basis. There is always something happening in one of the funds which keeps me and the team on our toes.

My immediate team members as well as the wider team are very knowledgeable, professional, approachable and friendly. Having joined during the Covid-19 lockdowns and working from home, the team at Muzinich couldn’t have made the first few months any smoother. There were calls with different team members who gave me introductions to the firm and its people. There were several calls with my immediate colleagues who explained the different processes and procedures.

Although it has only been a year or so since I joined (at the time of writing), my experience with Muzinich has been very positive. We are a growing firm and team, and I would encourage anyone with a background in accounting or auditing in financial services to consider Muzinich as a potential employer.

I was born and brought up in Türkiye which, like much of the world, has experienced gender inequality. However, due to a great deal of hard work and perseverance, I studied Management at Boğaziçi, one of Türkiye’s top universities, and spent each summer on internships at prestigious financial institutions to give myself as much industry exposure as I could.

On graduation I joined Deloitte as an auditor. It provided me with a great learning environment where I acquired a deep understanding of the transformation of company operations from various sectors into financial statements. I also gained strong accounting knowledge and started working towards my Certified Public Accountant qualification.  

Although auditing is an excellent starting point, I felt I could do more, so applied for an MBA at INSEAD. It is a tough application process and includes an interview carried out by resident alumni in your home country. I was interviewed by the founders of Turkven, one of Türkiye’s leading private equity firms. The interview process went well, and I was accepted into INSEAD in France. In the run-up to commencing my MBA, the Turkven founders also offered me a job; I was their first employee. Given it was a small team at the time, I was given the opportunity to participate in all aspects of deal evaluation and execution which resulted in a very steep learning curve.

After completing my MBA, I moved to London to gain international work experience, initially at Barclays Capital as a sell side credit analyst and then Schroders in 2008 as a buy side credit analyst. By starting my credit research career on the sell side, I gained a solid understanding of the credit markets which I find invaluable to this day.  

In 2014, I joined Muzinich & Co as a Credit Analyst, focusing on European high yield issuers across various sectors including building materials, chemicals and packaging. In 2020 I was promoted to Director of Research in Europe. I am also a member of ESG Integration and Advisory Groups and sit on the board of Muzinich & Co SGR S.p.A.

Muzinich was founded over 30 years ago, and I am lucky enough to be a part of its story. During my time here, I have seen an impressive transformation in all aspects of our company. That said, the collaborative environment and culture remains unchanged – an attribute I find unique.

In a career spanning over 20 years, I have worked at both large and small institutions, and I value the variety of experiences these places have given me at different stages of my career. However, Muzinich, as a dynamic and entrepreneurial, yet well-established, financial institution stands out. It has and continues to feed my natural curiosity and is constantly offering me new opportunities. It brings out the best in me.

I grew up in the Southwestern part of China and was admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong with full scholarship. After graduation, I joined the graduate programme in the equity research department of a bulge bracket bank in Hong Kong. Equity research was a very good starting point of my career as it trained me up to excel in conducting fundamental research with in-depth knowledge on various sectors.

After two and a half years in equity research, I ventured into a corporate in Shanghai, eager to learn more on corporate governance from the inside. During my time there, I came to understand the importance of financing and funding for companies. This made me determined to join a special situations team (the credit team) at a top-tier Asia Private Equity house in Hong Kong. Credit is a long-term career for me, as I believe in its value to assist companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprise, to get the funding they need to grow, especially during difficult times.

I joined Muzinich in 2021 and am excited that I have finally found myself in a place with an excellent culture, a supportive team and opportunities for growth and development.

I was born and brought up in Moldova, but was keen for a Western-style education. At 16 I received a scholarship to complete my final two years of high school in the US. There I was inspired by my economics teacher to focus my further education on economics which I went on to major in at the University of Chicago. I found the interplay between politics, history, sociology and psychology fascinating and decided to also major in psychology.

During my studies I did a summer internship at an EM focused equity hedge fund where I continued to work part time for the final two years of my college degree. At college I was also a member of the Value Investing Club where a group of us had the opportunity to run our own fund management company and invest capital provided by alumni. This gave me excellent first-hand insight on the inner workings of an investment company. 

The market for post-graduate jobs in finance is tough, but my background and experienced enabled me to secure a position at an investment banking firm. While I was delighted with the opportunity, I quickly realised I wanted to move into something more focused on investing. Muzinich & Co were looking for someone comfortable with data and modelling to work with a senior credit analyst on the US oil & gas sector, with a particular focus on the nascent shale industry. After a few months my responsibilities were extended, and I was given individual credits and sub-sectors to analyse.

Visa issues meant I couldn’t remain employed in the US but, due to Muzinich’s global presence, the Firm supported my move to London where most of the emerging markets team is based. Given my Eastern European background, language skills and experience in oil and gas, I was a natural fit for the team. It was a steep learning curve but I really enjoyed the challenge and my coverage has since expanded to include metals and mining, infrastructure and other smaller sectors across EMEA and into developed markets. I’ve been with the firm for nearly 6 years now and I’m really enjoying the challenges, responsibilities and diversity of my role. I’m always learning, and work with a great team.