ABOUT WHITESTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT
WhiteStar Asset Management is the CLO, structured products, and broadly syndicated credit arm of Clearlake Capital Group. WhiteStar is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with international offices in London, England and Dublin, Ireland. Managing about $75bn in combined AUM, the firm is focused on private equity, special situations and credit. WhiteStar has decades of experience in structuring, investing, and managing senior secured loan portfolios with the team having issued over $40 billion in CLOs in their history. WhiteStar is comprised of a seasoned, cohesive team, characterized by a breadth of analytical resources and proprietary market intelligence. WhiteStar has a conservative credit culture focused on fundamental credit work and primarily invests in broadly syndicated senior secured loans and CLO tranches.
Integrated multi-product strategy driven by research and analytics, WhiteStar Asset Management invests in syndicated bank loans and structured products. With our extensive experience in investing in bank debt – combined with CLO deal structure, compliance and portfolio management skills – we are uniquely qualified to deliver value. WhiteStar further benefits from its proprietary credit tool, WhiteStar Asset Risk (WAR©), which delivers a deep understanding of the underlying loan assets. WhiteStar stresses cross-collaboration between loan analysts and the CLO investment team. Further, WhiteStar benefits with support and shared resources from Clearlake.
LEADERSHIP
GIBRAN MAHMUD
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer
Mr. Mahmud serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at WhiteStar Asset Management. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Mahmud was a Senior Vice President and Head of Mergers, Acquisitions and Business Strategy for a private family office.
Mr. Mahmud was elected to the Board of Trinitas Capital Management and named to the Investment Committee of Trinitas Capital Management in August 2015.
Previously Mr. Mahmud served as Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Structured Products at Highland Capital Management, L.P. He served as the Head of the Structured Product Credit Committee and the Senior Structured Products Trader. Mr. Mahmud structured, marketed, negotiated, managed and monitored 30+ CDOs totaling over $28 billion backed by a variety of asset types. Mr. Mahmud managed a team of professionals that was responsible for the day-to-day management of all CDOs including portfolio management, asset surveillance, cash management, portfolio structuring, monthly trustee reporting, and quarterly waterfall and cashflow calculations. He also marketed related CDO investment strategies globally to pension funds, endowments, hedge funds, insurance companies and money managers. Additionally, Mr. Mahmud managed and invested a portfolio of over $6 billion of structured credit paper that was primarily backed by senior secured bank loan collateral and traded over $10 billion of structured credit paper overall during his time at Highland.
Prior to joining Highland, he served as a Senior Analyst at Fleet Capital where he was involved in originating, structuring, modeling and credit analysis for clients primarily in the manufacturing, retail and services industries. Formerly, he was a Senior Auditor at Arthur Andersen.
Mr. Mahmud received a Master of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Baylor University.
PHILIP BRANER
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Braner serves as Chief Operating Officer at WhiteStar Asset Management with extensive experience in the structured product and capital markets.
Prior to joining the firm, he was a Managing Director in the structured products group with Highland Capital Management responsible for structuring, marketing and business development of its structured products business and foreign funds effort with a focus on emerging markets, primarily Latin America. During his time at Highland he was COO of the Structured Products Group, as well as head of the Deal Team within Highland’s Structured Products Group, responsible for the origination of structured finance transactions and separate investment accounts. Mr. Braner has structured and marketed over $50bn of CLOs, CDOs, SMAs, hedge funds, and foreign investment vehicles.
Previously, Mr. Braner served as a Senior Accountant at KPMG in Dallas, Texas serving clients primarily in the Telecommunications industry.
He received both a Masters in Accountancy and a BBA from Baylor University. Mr. Braner is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.
GORDON NEILLY
Executive Chairman, Europe
Mr. Neilly serves as Executive Chairman of WhiteStar Asset Management, Europe.
Prior to joining the firm, Gordon held the position of Chief of Staff at Standard Life Aberdeen where he acted as advisor to the CEO in defining the company’s strategic agenda and delivering the projects that supported this. During his time at the company, he was also responsible for developing the Group’s strategy and overseeing its implementation, as well as co-ordinating all corporate activity for the Group and its closed end fund business. Amongst other things he led the Aberdeen Asset Management/Standard Life merger as well as the sale of the life and pensions business to Phoenix.
Gordon joined Standard Life Aberdeen in 2016 from Cantor Fitzgerald Europe where he was Joint CEO, and has also held the roles of Managing Director, Corporate Finance at Canaccord Genuity, as well as Founder and CEO of Intelli Partners.
Gordon is a qualified chartered accountant, having graduated from Edinburgh University in 1981 with a degree in Economics, Business Studies and Accounting and in 2020 completed an Oxford University Course in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. He also holds a number of non-executive directorships including Personal Assets Trust, the Noe Group and Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust.
KEVIN ENOCH
Director, Head of Operations
Mr. Enoch joined WhiteStar Asset Management in 2013 as a Senior Operations Analyst for WhiteStar, where he is responsible for the operational aspects of the group. He has more than 12 years of experience in operations and surveillance for a variety of investment fund types, including extensive experience in collateralized loan obligations and structured products.
Mr. Enoch was named Vice President – Operations of TCM in August 2015.
Prior to joining the firm, he served as a Portfolio Analyst at Oak Hill Advisors, LP where he was responsible for the surveillance of collateralized loan obligations. He produced monthly investor reports, ensured proper investor payments were made on a timely basis, maintained and implemented surveillance products for the group, provided pro-active portfolio optimization ideas, and performed analysis for multiple trading scenarios. Before joining Oak Hill, he served in a similar role for a fixed income asset manager after beginning his career as an associate at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Mr. Enoch received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Stephen F. Austin State University.
NEIL DESAI
Managing Director, Head of Structured Credit Investing
Mr. Desai joined WhiteStar Asset Management in July 2019 as Managing Director. He is responsible for WhiteStar’s CLO investment business and also facilitating in the structuring, syndication and strategic planning of the Trinitas Capital Management new issue CLO platform.
Prior to joining WhiteStar, Mr. Desai was a Managing Director at Highland Capital Management, L.P. where he oversaw credit trading and managed approximately $2 billion of CLO investments across Highland’s hedge funds, UCITS funds, mutual funds, and separate accounts; and traded over $10 billion of CLO tranche volume during his tenure. Previously, Mr. Desai built and ran the structured credit business for Pfizer Inc.’s Treasury organization and prior to that spent several years in various structuring and trading roles at Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital.
Mr. Desai received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
NATHAN HALL
Managing Director, Head of Credit Research & ESG
Mr. Hall joined WhiteStar Asset Management as a Senior Portfolio Analyst in 2013 with over 12 years of investment experience, focused largely on credit and bank loans.
Mr. Hall was named to the Investment Committee of Trinitas Capital Management in August 2015. Before joining the firm, Mr. Hall served as a Vice President with H.I.G. WhiteHorse, the lending affiliate of the $12 billion middle market private equity firm H.I.G. Capital. During his tenure, he independently managed a portfolio of syndicated bank loans, underwriting new primary investments, monitoring existing investments, and making recommendations to Portfolio Managers. He gained significant reorganization and workout experience and held numerous positions on steering committees with the firm. He was a voting member of the CLO Investment Committee, where he evaluated all new CLO investment opportunities. Additionally, Mr. Hall worked with Managing Directors at Bayside Capital, the distressed debt affiliate of H.I.G., to source, evaluate, and manage distressed debt investments across multiple sectors from inception to ultimate resolution. Prior to joining WhiteHorse, Mr. Hall completed a two year analyst program at an integrated asset management firm, gaining exposure to bank debt, bonds, and equities across a wide variety of structures and strategies. He has also received credit management and underwriting training from Wells Fargo.
Mr. Hall received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Texas A&M University.
BRANDON DAVIS
Managing Director, Senior CLO Portfolio Manager
Mr. Davis joined WhiteStar Asset Management as a Senior Portfolio Analyst in 2013. He has over 11 years of relevant experience, investing primarily in the credit markets.
Mr. Davis was named to the Investment Committee of Trinitas Capital Management in August 2015.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Davis was an Associate Director in the Proprietary Investing group of ORIX USA, where he managed a portfolio of syndicated bank debt, high yield bonds, equities, and derivatives. His responsibilities included idea generation, underwriting, ongoing surveillance, and making trade recommendations to the Portfolio Managers. Prior to ORIX, Mr. Davis was an analyst at Sanctuary Capital Management, a hedge fund focused on investments in syndicated bank debt. Mr. Davis began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was an associate in the Dispute Analysis and Investigations group.
Mr. Davis received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude, and a Masters of Science degree in Financial Management from Texas A&M University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charter holder and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of Texas.
WANT TO JOIN OUR TEAM?
WhiteStar Asset Management seeks talented, hard-working team members with the desire to make a difference in their workplace and community. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to be part of a team, working for WhiteStar could be the perfect career move for you. Interested candidates should send their resumes to [email protected]
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