Prudential Promotes Derrick, Von Fischer to Build Corporate Finance Unit

Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU), the
second-largest U.S. life insurer, promoted Robert Derrick and
Scott von Fischer to co-heads of U.S. corporate finance at the
capital group as the company expands lending operations.

Derrick, who led the Atlanta office, adds responsibility
for New York and Dallas, according to a statement today from
Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential. Von Fischer will oversee
the business in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, where he
was head of the city’s office. Both report to Allen Weaver, head
of Prudential Capital Group, which managed a portfolio of $60
billion as of Sept. 30.

Prudential and No. 1 MetLife Inc. (MET) are bolstering private
lending as yields decline on publicly traded securities and some
banks scale back. Prudential Capital, which deploys money from
its general account and institutional client funds, had $10
billion in originations last year, more than twice as much as a
decade earlier.

There is “a lot of appetite in the private debt market,”
Weaver said in an interview today. “A lot of companies would
like to have some long-term, fixed-rate debt to hedge their
interest-rate risk.”

Billy Greer replaces Derrick as head of the Atlanta office,
and William Engelking takes over in Chicago. The jobs taken by
von Fischer and Derrick are new positions, said Theresa Miller,
a spokeswoman for the company.

The firm also created a Dallas-based energy finance group
to be led by Managing Director Randy Kob and said it is opening
a Minneapolis office, to be led by Vice President Peter Pricco.

Stephen Demartini, who had responsibility for the San
Francisco and Los Angeles offices, will be retiring after June
30, according to the statement. Mitchell Reed will head the San
Francisco corporate finance office and Jason Richardson will run
Los Angeles. Both were promoted to managing director from senior
vice president, as were Julia Buthman, who will head Dallas, and
Matt Douglass in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Ludtke in New York at
aludtke@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

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