The Firm has developed its relationship with direct lending client, Bridgepoint Credit, following Nigela Houghton’s secondment at the company.

Nigela, a senior associate in our London Debt Finance team, completed the secondment between January and June this year.

She explains: “The opportunity came from Partner Fergus Wheeler, who does a lot of work with EQT Credit.

“EQT Credit merged with Bridgepoint Credit last autumn and asked Fergus if we could provide a secondee for the merged deal team.

“I’ve done a lot of work with Fergus and EQT in the past, so the chance to complete the secondment appealed to me.”

Nigela’s secondment started during Covid-19 lockdown, but the Bridgepoint Credit team was extremely welcoming and helped her settle in fast.

“All my onboarding was done remotely, but I was impressed that everyone reached out and made me feel part of the team.”

She says: “All my onboarding was done remotely, but I was impressed that everyone reached out and made me feel part of the team.”

Nigela worked on Bridgepoint Credit’s deal team of around 25 people based in London.

“I liked that the team was big enough to include a diverse range of people, but small enough that you could get to know everyone,” she says.

“The type of work the team do is similar to my normal work at the Firm, but I was more heavily involved in the early stages of deals than I usually would be, because we typically get hired once the lender has been mandated.

“As part of my role, the team relied on me to look at the early term sheets and advise them on the best course of action in the context of the market.

“I found the work really interesting because it gave me a different perspective on what Bridgepoint Credit cares about from an internal policy perspective.

“As part of that, I had the opportunity to contribute to credit committee calls and it was a real eye-opener to see how they come to investment decisions.”

Nigela also got an invaluable insight into what Bridgepoint expects from external counsel.

She explains: “It was interesting to be involved in calls between the deal team and external counsel and to see their frustration when an external lawyer spent time going into detail on things in the documents that didn’t matter to them.

“They clearly want external counsel to get straight to the important stuff, rather than spending valuable time talking about simple aspects.

“Ultimately, they want their external counsel to make their lives easier.”

Another highlight of the secondment was Nigela’s work on developing a set of standard processes for the newly merged team.

She says: “It was a super-interesting time to join the deal team because they were very busy, but also had to deal with the practicalities of the recent merger.

“So, when I joined in January, the deal team included Bridgepoint Credit deal team members who had done things their way, and EQT Credit deal team members who did things another way, with no meeting in the middle.

“They challenged me to develop a set of consistent joint processes before educating all team members on the new way of working.

“At first, I thought it was a big responsibility and out of my comfort zone, but it was very rewarding, because I was able to make a lasting difference and add value.

“It also gave me an invaluable insight into the working of the team and the business.”

During her secondment, Nigela maintained regular contact with her colleagues at the Firm, including fortnightly catch-up calls with Fergus to see how things were going.

“At first, I thought it was a big responsibility and out of my comfort zone, but it was also very rewarding, because I was able to make a lasting difference and add value.”

Nigela says: “I knew from a previous secondment I’d done at Blackstone Capital that I had the support of the partnership if I ever needed help, so I definitely felt supported.”

Nigela completed her secondment in June and is already seeing the benefits of her time at Bridgepoint Credit.

“I think the secondment had strategic importance because it helped us cement our relationship with the legacy EQT Credit team and will improve the client experience while also developing new relationships with members of the Bridgepoint Credit legacy team.

“I definitely think the client relationship has been improved and we started to see the benefits while I was still on secondment, with the Firm being hired for several of the deals we were working on.

“I’ve continued being a touchpoint on some of those since I returned, which has been a great way of staying in contact with the client.

“We’ve also been asked to quote for several other deals in recent months.”

The secondment has been of benefit to Nigela as well and she appreciates the role it’s had in her personal development.

She says: “From a personal perspective, the secondment gave me an insight into the client that I could never have got as external counsel.

“Sitting with them in credit committee discussions and being heavily involved in legal and commercial decisions was invaluable and has helped me get to grips with trends in the market.

“Building relationships is also important and it’s good to know that there are several people at Bridgepoint Credit who are now comfortable to pick up the phone or email me if they need anything.

“That’s a vital element of delivering a great client experience.”