Marathon Asset Management welcomed Alex Howell as a senior managing director and head of European Alternative Credit.
The $22 billion credit firm will also have Howell join the investment committee as he takes responsibility for leading public investments, corporate capital solutions, special situations and direct lending in Europe. Earlier this year, Curt Lueker joined Marathon as managing director in New York with an aim of leading the firm’s sponsor’s coverage and direct lending business. He is also on the investment committee.
“As Marathon grows its corporate credit business in Europe, Alex’s experience investing across the capital structure in private and public credit, combined with his deep relationships in the advisory, sponsor and banking communities, make him a valuable addition to our leadership team,” said Bruce Richards, co-founder, chairman and CEO. “Our core focus is generating alpha for our clients through differentiated investment opportunities and solutions. Alex’s hiring further demonstrates our commitment to that focus.”
Howell joins Marathon after almost 11 years at Blackstone Credit and GSO Capital, where he made numerous investments across the capital structure in its public and private credit strategies, which have been growing as of late. A Blackstone spokesperson declined to comment on Howell’s departure from the firm or whether he had been replaced. Most recently, he served as head of opportunistic credit and capital markets for Europe and APAC. Prior to joining Blackstone, he worked at Lehman Brothers and Nomura in mergers and acquisitions and then in fixed income analyzing investments on the firms’ credit trading desks.
Marathon’s European team totals 180 professionals across its global credit platform, a franchise that Marathon has built since its founding 25 years ago, officials said.
