For Private Credit’s Top Talent, $1 Million a Year Is Not Enough
The fight between Barings and a gang of senior defectors is a rude awakening for a private market that sells itself on trust, discretion and stability. Many investors are furious.
Illustration: Jasjyot Singh Hans
Antoine Gosselin-Mercury may not have expected to hit the corporate heights quite so quickly when he moved to Barings LLC in 2021. But over a single mad March weekend this year, the mid-level staffer found himself one of the most senior people left on his team at its ritzy London office.
For any financier wanting to make a mark in the booming $1.7 trillion private credit market, Barings was a good place to be. The firm’s Global Private Finance division has long been part of the elite, especially in Europe. It boasts a pedigree in company loans going back to 1992, a lofty position in deal rankings and a parent company that manages half a trillion dollars of assets.