THL Credit Advisors LLC, an alternative credit investment advisor, announced that it has expanded its Direct Lending team with the promotion of Eric Lee to Managing Director and the hiring of Fawwaz Ahmed and Troy Hebert, each as a Vice President. THL Credit has hired seven new Direct Lending investment professionals this year.

Lee was previously a Director for THL Credit's Direct Lending platform in the Company's New York office, where he was responsible for originating, evaluating, and executing new investment opportunities and for managing portfolio investments. Lee first came to THL Credit's Direct Lending team in early 2017, and is currently based in the Los Angeles office, where he is responsible for the origination and structuring of investment opportunities with financial sponsors across the Western United States. Previously, he was a Director at Credit Suisse Asset Management's Corporate Credit Solutions Group, where he was responsible for originating, structuring, and monitoring investments for Credit Suisse Park View BDC. Lee earned his M.B.A. with Honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his B.A. in Economics from Columbia University.

"Eric has earned a well-deserved promotion to Managing Director," said Chris Flynn, CEO of THL Credit. "His larger role within our firm will facilitate the growth of our portfolio and help us continue to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to our investors."

Ahmed and Hebert are based in THL Credit's Chicago office. Their responsibilities include evaluating new investment opportunities, executing transactions and managing portfolio investments. Before joining THL Credit, Ahmed was an Assistant Vice President in Middle Market Lending at Golub Capital, where he underwrote debt financings for leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations of private equity-backed companies. Prior to his work at Golub, Ahmed was an Analyst in the Sponsor Finance group at Bank of Montreal.

Hebert joins the firm from Balance Point Capital, a middle-market private equity and debt investment manager where he was an Associate. In that capacity, Hebert was engaged in all aspects of the deal process, and was responsible for evaluating and modeling investment opportunities. Before he joined Balance Point, Hebert was a Mergers & Acquisitions Investment Banking Analyst with Citi's Global Industrials group.

"We're excited to welcome Fawwaz and Troy to our team," said Michelle Handy, Managing Director and Head of Portfolio & Underwriting for THL Credit's Direct Lending platform. "Both have strong backgrounds in underwriting transactions and evaluating middle-market investment opportunities. Their efforts will boost our capacity to evaluate deals and conduct due diligence."

Ahmed earned a B.B.A. from The University of Iowa with a double major in Finance and Accounting. Hebert holds a B.S. in Finance from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University.