London – MDB Group (MeDirect), a pan-European ECB regulated entity with Banks in Malta and Belgium, announces an important strategic hire to its senior management team,
strengthening its growing corporate lending business and to spearhead the bank’s diversification into new and adjacent product areas.
Michael Curtis will join as Chief Investment Officer of the Group, reporting to Mark Watson, CEO, and will be responsible for leading the core credit activities of the bank,
whilst developing new and adjacent business lines to enhance the strategic development of the Group. Michael joins MeDirect’s team in London.
Commenting on the appointment, Mark Watson, Chief Executive Officer, MeDirect said:
“Hiring Michael underlines our belief in the long term potential of our corporate lending business and in broadening our investment capability. We are delighted to have
attracted this exceptional hire to join MeDirect’s senior management team in the new role of CIO. Michael has excellent credentials and a very strong track record;
he will contribute greatly to strengthening and growing MeDirect’s footprint.”
Mike Bussey, Chairman, MDB group further commented:
“MeDirect has an excellent track record in its core lending activity and we see significant opportunities to advance growth in this area. Having Michael on-board will enable
us to expand into further products and territories as we look to build and diversify into new areas.”
Biography
- Prior to joining MeDirect, Michael was Portfolio Manager and Managing Director within the Credit Fund Management Group at ICG, responsible for leading the loans business
Michael led ICG’s CLO platform as well as a number of loan and high yield bond mandates. During this time ICG was a top 5 European CLO issuer and achieved excellent loan fund
returns. Michael sat on the European Investment Committee and the Global Strategic Asset Allocation committee - Prior to joining ICG, Michael was Portfolio Manager and Director of 3i Debt Management responsible for investing across the capital structure, primarily in European leveraged
loans, high yield bonds and structured credit. During Michael’s leadership at 3i, fund returns significantly improved from bottom quartile to top quartile equity returns and
across a number of performance metrics - Prior to 3i, Michael was at Alpstar Capital, a specialist European credit fund business he helped to build from a €25m start-up to a multi-billion asset manager. Michael
was a partner of the firm, member of the investment committee and head of Alpstar’s loan business, where he was responsible for portfolio management, credit research, monitoring
and trading - Michael started his career in leveraged finance and restructuring at CIBC World Markets
- Michael holds a BSc in Economics from University College London
