Lobbardi launches Avardi Partners

The founder of the first ever fund finance advisory team, Sarah Lobbardi, has set up independent advisor Avardi Partners.

Having spent seven years at Lloyd’s bank delivering financing solutions to financial sponsors worldwide, Lobbardi established the world’s first fund finance advisory team in 2018 under Validus Risk Management.

This week, Lobbardi has announced the launch of a fully independent fund finance advisor Avardi Partners.

“Back in 2018, I launched the first ever dedicated fund finance advisory team. I could see the gap in the market between sponsors and lenders. That’s when I decided there was something to be done to add more value. There was an opportunity to help sponsors to be more innovative about their financing strategy and structuring” Lobbardi explained.

“I am really happy today to launch an independent practice that will focus on fund finance as well as provide a full range of services to our clients. Our six strong team has a longstanding track record in fund finance having executed over 250 transactions worldwide.”

In the last few years, the fund finance landscape has evolved rapidly and recent events have led to an ever sharper focus on this market. “Our launch is timely as sourcing financing solutions is harder than ever. Lenders are more diligent, pricing has increased materially and there is a massive spike in NAV line demands with only few lenders providing them,” Lobbardi added.

The Avardi team will work with private capital funds across a range of asset classes supporting them from financing strategy to sourcing, structuring and execution.