Akhil Bansal

Background

• Partner & Head of Asset-Backed Finance, Carlyle Global Credit (New York); Portfolio Manager for ABF strategies, Co-PM for the Revolving Loan strategy
• Prior: Director at KKR (credit asset management, capital markets, balance sheet initiatives); earlier IB roles at Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan (structured products, M&A, leveraged finance)
• BBA, University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Current focus

• Building out Carlyle's asset-backed finance book (reported ~$7B), spanning consumer, specialty, and asset-heavy verticals: solar (Sungage), auto floorplan (Kinetic Advantage), farm lending (FarmOp), and energy royalties/PDP assets (Diversified Energy)
• Works closely with Fortitude Re on asset allocation/portfolio construction for reinsurance-linked capital
• Sits on Investment Committees for ABF, Revolving Loan Fund, and Aviation Partners; board seats at Monogram LLC, Kinetic Advantage, Sungage Financial, and Northbridge

What he cares about

• Forward-flow structures with platform-level equity/board involvement, not just loan purchases
• Scaling niche specialty lenders that have technology-driven origination but need balance-sheet capital
• Positioning ABF as the "next wave" of private credit relative to traditional direct lending

Sensitivities

• Multiple concurrent portfolio company board seats could create bandwidth or conflict-of-interest considerations for new opportunities in overlapping verticals
• Heavy reliance on insurance-linked capital (Fortitude Re) ties origination pace to reinsurance flows, which deal teams should probe for durability

Questions to ask

1. How does Carlyle underwrite platform risk (versus pure asset risk) in forward-flow deals like Kinetic Advantage and FarmOp?
2. What's the pipeline and appetite for new ABF verticals beyond solar/auto/farm/energy in the next 12-18 months?
3. How dependent is deal sourcing/capital deployment on Fortitude Re's reinsurance flows, and what happens if that slows?