Direct Private Debt
Marco Paoli
Analyst-Italy
Marco joined Generali Asset Management as a member of the Direct Private Debt team in December 2022.
Marco joined Generali shortly after having obtained a Master of Science in Business Management cum laude from LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome and he has already gained one year of experience in direct private debt.
He worked in audit for Deloitte and he attended an exchange program at Prague University of Economics and Business.
Laura Molina
Associate -France
Laura joined Generali Asset Management as a member of the Direct Private Debt team in March 2023.
Laura joins from 2 years in Unigrains, a French investment company specialized in the Agro sector, evaluating investment opportunities in European food & beverage companies. Prior to that, Laura worked for BNP Paribas CIB in Peru, focusing on large-cap companies of various sectors in Peru and Chile, where she gained experience in debt products. Laura started her working path in 2017 in Spain with Corpfin Capital, a private equity fund, focusing on the spanish mid-cap segment.
Laura holds a double degree in International Business Administration with a Finance major from the universities of ICADE in Madrid and Neoma in France.
Evgenia Lepetova
Director-France
Evgenia joined Generali Asset Management as a member of the Direct Private Debt team in January 2023.
Evgenia joins from 6 years in Muzinich where she was a part of the Pan-European Private Debt team, providing financing solutions across all capital structure to medium-sized companies in Europe. Prior to that, Evgenia worked in the corporate and investment banking department of CM-CIC: first in M&A advisory supporting SMEs and then in Leveraged Finance where she worked on the structuring and execution of sponsor-led LBOs on the French mid-cap market, as well as on the corporate financing issues.
Evgenia has a dual scholarship background, holding a Bachelor degree in Engineering from Polytechnic University of Saint-Petersburg and a Master of Science degree in Finance from Pantheon Assas University of Paris.
Francesca Elia
Director -Italy
Francesca joined Generali Asset Management in January 2023.
Francesca has 15 years’ experience in Private Equity, with particular focus on Italian SMEs for both majority and minority investments across several industries, including but not limited industrial manufacturing and food.
Prior to Generali, she was a Director of the Italian private equity fund EOS Investment Management. Previously, she worked for 10 years in Fondo Italiano di Investimento where she was involved in several transactions of the first and second fund. Earlier she joined the private equity initiative of Palladio Finanziaria focused on shipping and logistic sector. She has also 2 years’ experience in management consulting.
Francesca holds a Bachelor in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan and attended the exchange program at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
Eric Ostermann
Head of Direct Private Debt - DACH
Eric joined Generali Asset Management as a member of the Direct Private Debt team in January 2024.
He has over 10 years of experience working in Private Debt and Leveraged Finance with a particular focus on the mid-cap LBO market in DACH.
Prior to Generali, Eric was Vice President at Tikehau Capital, a French Private Equity and Private Debt asset manager, where he was in charge of the Private Debt activities in DACH and focused on providing financing solutions to private equity-backed medium-sized companies across various sectors. Before that, he was working in the Leveraged Finance & Sponsor Coverage team of ABN AMRO where he helped building up the German franchise. Eric also worked in the Leveraged Finance team of IKB Bank for 4 years and started his career at KPMG as Private Equity auditor for 2 years.
Eric holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Passau and a Bachelors degree in International Management from the International School of Management (ISM).
Simon Baccelli
Head of Direct Private Debt Corporate French
Simon joined Generali Asset Management as Head of Direct Private Debt Corporate French team in September 2023.
Simon brings to Generali Investments over 19 years of experience in the asset management and in the investment banking sectors in Europe, to manage the direct corporate private debt activities in France and in French speaking countries.
Simon joins from Cerea Partners, a French independent asset manager, where he was a Partner in the Mezzanine & Private debt team and lead private debt investments in Europe since 2017. Prior to that, Simon spent 11 years in acquisition and leveraged finance with BNP Paribas (Germany) and then Natixis (Paris). He started his career with EY, in audit and then in transaction services.
Simon holds degrees from ESSEC (Paris) and from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore).
Sandrine Richard
Head of Direct Private Debt
Sandrine brings to Generali Investments over 25 years of investment and business development experience in the European asset management industry to manage the Corporate Private debt activity (Indirect and Direct).
Sandrine joins from Muzinich, where she steered the European and French senior secured and private debt strategy in senior leadership roles, contributing to launching and managing private debt funds with robust ESG processes. Prior to that, she covered senior roles at AXA IM, including leading the private debt investment team, and at Exane.
Sandrine holds CESGA (Certified ESG Analyst), CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) and SFAF (Centre de Formation à l’Analyse Financière) certifications, in addition to having achieved an Independent Administrator Executive Master from EM LYON, and a diploma from the Institut Supérieur de Gestion (ISG) Business School.
