Private credit has moved from the margins to the centre of how infrastructure and the energy transition get financed. As banks retrench and borrowers seek certainty and speed, direct lenders, infrastructure debt funds and structured-credit platforms have stepped in. The capital is flowing. The question for every fund is whether it has the team to deploy it well - and whether it is building that team early enough.
The build starts before the fundraise closes
The temptation is to hire once the fund is raised and the mandate is live. The firms that win the next vintage do the opposite. Origination relationships, underwriting discipline and portfolio capability take time to assemble and longer to prove. Starting the build once deployment pressure hits means competing for the same scarce people as everyone else, at the worst possible moment.
What a credit team actually needs
Origination. People with genuine relationships across sponsors, advisers and developers - who see deals early and are trusted to move. In a crowded market, proprietary origination is the difference between price-taking and price-making.
Underwriting. Judgment under uncertainty. Infrastructure and energy credits carry construction, merchant, technology and regulatory risk that a generic credit background does not prepare you for. The best underwriters have seen these risks play out, not just modelled them.
Portfolio and workout. Capital deployed over a decade will meet stress. The teams that survive downturns are the ones that hired portfolio and restructuring capability before they needed it - not during the first difficult refinancing.
Sequencing the build
A credible build-out is sequenced, not scattergun. Anchor the team with a senior leader whose name draws others, layer in origination and underwriting around the strategy, and develop the junior bench that becomes the fund's future. Each hire should make the next one easier - talent attracts talent, and the first few decisions set the ceiling for everything after.
The funds that will lead the next cycle are hiring now, quietly, while the market is still focused on raising. By the time the capital needs to move, the team is already in place. That is not luck. It is a decision made early - and executed by people who know exactly who to call.