Siguler Guff, a multi-strategy private equity investment firm with more $14 billion of assets under management, hired Ray Miller and Prashant Rai to further strengthen its credit investment platform. Miller and Rai will work with the broader Siguler Guff credit team under the leadership of Michael Apfel, who joined the firm as a managing director and head of credit in December. Siguler Guff’s credit-related strategies include special situations, distressed and other niche credit strategies.
Siguler Guff’s credit platform has raised more than $7 billion of committed capital, and has been investing in opportunistic credit-related strategies for approximately 20 years.
“We see significant opportunities for our credit-related strategies given the enormous dislocation that is reshaping many industries as corporate debt levels rise and EBITDA declines,” Apfel said. “We are, therefore, pleased to welcome Ray Miller and Prashant Rai to the firm, each of whom bring differentiated credit expertise that will be highly additive to the firm and our investors. Over the last several months, Siguler Guff has continued to expand its credit-related investment platform and we are well situated, with extraordinary resources, to evaluate and execute on a host of attractive investments spread across our focused strategies. This includes esoteric and overlooked opportunities within the credit universe.”
“We believe this is a moment in time to further build and leverage our global, integrated credit platform,” Drew Guff, managing director and founding partner of Siguler Guff, said. “Our firm is well positioned to source and execute attractive investment opportunities. The expertise of our professionals and our long-standing track record of investing through multiple economic cycles and within diversified credit strategies over the past two decades is compelling.”
Miller joined Siguler Guff as a principal. He has approximately 15 years of public and private investment experience across special situations, distressed and credit strategies. Prior to joining Siguler Guff, Miller was a principal at MHR Fund Management, a $5 billion private equity firm that invests in distressed and undervalued middle market companies and assets. Miller was responsible for originating and executing off-the-run special situations and credit investment opportunities across a variety of industries, including aviation services, aircraft and engine leasing, industrials, mortgage lending, and specialty finance. While at MHR, Miller was actively involved in forming partnerships with management teams to establish, scale and monetize niche platform companies focused on acquiring or lending against specialized assets or businesses. Previously, Miller was an associate at Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, investing across the capital structure in a variety of industries.
Miller has served as a board or committee member for numerous companies and currently serves as a director of Navistar, a manufacturer of trucks and buses, and was formerly a director of Erickson, an aerospace manufacturer and global provider of aviation services.
Rai joined Siguler Guff as a vice president, focused on the firm’s special situations, distressed and opportunistic credit strategies. Rai’s primary responsibilities include investment sourcing, due diligence and ongoing management. Rai has approximately six years of experience within restructuring, distressed and special situations. Before joining Siguler Guff, Rai was an investment analyst at Mangrove, a special situations investment fund investing across the capital structure with an emphasis on corporate restructuring, liquidations and litigation.
Prior to joining Mangrove, Rai was an associate in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, where he advised debtors and creditors on in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Rai’s responsibilities at Weil included structuring and negotiating plans of reorganizations or liquidation and litigating deal-determinative issues such as valuation, plan feasibility, and preference and fraudulent transfer actions. Rai also worked in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster as a litigator and advised on tax disputes across multiple jurisdictions and industries.
