With that in mind, Signet is now building private lending funds for its clients (mostly pension funds) who, amidst a backdrop of globally flat interest rates, are looking to push out liquidity. This won’t, however, be a simple FoF. “Each client will have a bespoke fund,” confirmed Marquardt, adding that he expected the first to launch in Q1 2011. Over the last five or more years, Signet has built relationships with between five and 11 managers in its emerging market and credit funds, many of whom have significant experience in private lending; a very difficult space to get into. “It’s built on long relationships with managers so I don’t think there’ll be a lot of new competition,” explained Marquardt. Post ’08 there hasn’t been a lot of specialist credit to support small Asian companies, but Marquardt believes Asian fund managers are well suited: “They’re very professional credit managers, they’re good at structuring loans, at perfecting collateral, and they tend not to be leveraged,” said Marquardt. Jurisdictions being considered include Greater China and SE Asia, (and Indonesia, where Signet’s managers know the principals of Indonesian companies), where rule of law must be solid and the debt is both senior and securitized. The loans involved will typically run for one to four years, to be used for such purposes as project financing.