ABN Amro appoints leveraged finance heads for Asia and Spain

In a move to ramp up its leveraged finance business in Asia and Europe, ABN Amro today appointed Chi-Chi Chain as head of leveraged finance in Asia, and Inigo Heredia as head of leveraged finance in Spain.

Chain was previously a director at the Dutch bank in Amsterdam, and will relocate to Hong Kong for her new role. She has five years’ leveraged finance experience at ABN Amro in Europe, and will report locally to Geoffrey Rydon, head of structured lending, Asia, and globally to James Courtenay, global head of leveraged finance.

Heredia will be based in Madrid and joins from Société Générale, where he worked in the leveraged finance team for several years. Heredia will provide ABN Amro with local leveraged finance expertise, to complement the large underwriting and distribution teams already in place in London and Amsterdam. Heredia will report locally to Joseba Inchaurraga, head of global markets, Spain, and globally to Courtenay.

“The leveraged finance market has seen rapid growth in Europe in recent years, with leveraged loan volumes expected to rise to record levels of issuance again in 2007,” said Courtenay.