Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) expanded its newly formed direct lending business and hired Claude Mattessich and Will McCarthy as managing directors and senior originators.

Mattessich will be based in New York City, while McCarthy will be based in Chicago. Both will report to Christopher Freeman, managing director for MUFG’s direct lending group.

“We are excited to welcome Claude and Will to our team as we continue to focus our efforts on serving our sponsor clients,” Freeman said. “Claude’s and Will’s extensive expertise in successfully structuring tailored capital solutions and strong regional industry relationships made them complementary additions to our business.”

With more than 20 years of professional experience, Mattessich joined MUFG from CIT Bank, where he focused on managing relationships with private equity firms, investment banks, capital markets, turnaround advisors and boutique capital providers on financing alternatives. Before that, Mattessich held various roles at Capital One Financial, Merryll Lynch and Webster Financial Corp.

McCarthy joined MUFG from LBC Credit Partners, where he was part of the middle-market leveraged finance group, which was responsible for generating unitranche and senior secured, private-equity owned, leveraged lending opportunities for middle-market funds in the Midwest, as well as in the Boston and Connecticut markets. His additional past experience includes roles at ORIX Corporation, ING Capital and GE Commercial Finance.

Last month, MUFG formed the direct lending group, which will focus on providing loans to the bank’s private equity sponsor clients to support their portfolio company LBO and recapitalization transactions. The team will be led by Matt Maley, who joined MUFG in 2018 to run sponsor coverage. Freeman reports to Maley.