Monroe Capital LLC today announced that it has expanded its opportunistic private credit team with the addition of four experienced professionals: Jason Starr, Darrick Ginkel, Joseph Valickus in the New York office; and Chris Spanel in the Chicago office.

“The growth in our Opportunistic Private Credit team is indicative of the increased demand for financing we are seeing in this area, especially as we enter the later stages of the current economic cycle,” said Aaron Peck, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Opportunistic Private Credit group at Monroe. “As the risk/return parameters for Opportunistic Private Credit become more and more attractive, we believe it is the right time to expand our dedicated team of professionals in this focus area of private credit.”

“We are very excited to add Jason, Darrick, Joe and Chris to the Monroe Capital family,” said Kyle Asher, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Opportunistic Private Credit group at Monroe. “They are a great cultural fit for our organization and a strong addition to our investment team.”

The expanded Monroe Capital Opportunistic Private Credit team includes:

• Jason Starr, Managing Director – Real Estate, is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, conducting due diligence, negotiating legal documents and managing opportunistic real estate credit investments. He is located in the firm’s New York office and has previously worked at Arena Investors, LP and Cerberus Capital.
• Darrick Ginkel, Managing Director, is responsible for originating, analyzing, evaluating and managing opportunistic private credit investments, including secondaries. He is located in the firm’s New York office and has previously worked at Ellington Management.
• Joseph Valickus, Director, is responsible for originating, evaluating, underwriting and managing opportunistic private credit and equity investments across multiple industries, including specialty finance, corporate loans, secondaries, and real estate. He is located in the firm’s New York office and has previously worked in UBS’ Special Situations Group.
• Chris Spanel, Assistant Vice President, is responsible for analyzing, evaluating and managing opportunistic private credit investments across multiple industries, including specialty finance, corporate loans, secondaries, and real estate. He is located in the firm’s Chicago office and has previously worked at Victory Park Capital.

Ted Koenig, President and CEO of Monroe Capital added, “The Opportunistic Private Credit Group focuses on investing capital by lending to asset owners and companies while solving for collateral and structural complexities. For over 15 years, the firm has been investing in asset-backed transactions with attractive collateral, as well as cash flow and enterprise value based loans. The firm’s expanded opportunistic investment team has deep experience across multiple market cycles and required specialization around key sectors and end markets to drive differentiated and all weather returns for our limited partners irrespective of credit cycles.”