DealCatalyst Fund Finance Europe - What’s on the Agenda

In a busy Fund Finance conference landscape, differentiation increasingly depends on who is in the room and whose perspectives are driving the agenda. For DealCatalyst, whom many of you will already know as an events and market intelligence producer focusing on the private credit market, this principle sits at the core of its upcoming Fund Finance Europe Conference in London on 11 March.

As sponsors of what promises to be an excellent event, we took some time to sit down last week with DealCatalyst’s Todd Anderson to find out more. “The DealCatalyst Fund Finance Conference is borrower and investor led,” he says. “This event will cover the end user of the product and what it means for them better than any other conference out there.”

Rather than centring discussions around a narrow group of familiar names or intermediaries, DealCatalyst is, according to Anderson, creating a forum that reflects how the entire market actually operates and where it is heading, rather than recycling established narratives. “One of the defining features of the conference is the breadth of its attendee base,” he says. “While large-cap sponsors and global institutions will be present, they are intentionally not the sole focus.”

“When you come to our conference, you’re going to get lower middle-market, middle-market, real estate funds, infrastructure funds and PE buyout funds,” Anderson explains. “We’re getting registrations from and having conversations with a diverse range people.”

This mix, he argues, offers a more representative cross-section of the European Fund Finance market than many comparable events. Rather than concentrating on a small number of globally recognised brands, the conference places significant emphasis on what Anderson describes as the market’s “long tail”.

At many industry gatherings, the agenda is dominated by sponsors whose financing strategies are already well understood. DealCatalyst’s approach to Fund Finance instead exposes lenders and investors to a broader range of borrowers and other related stakeholders, including those who are actively shaping future demand but are often under-represented in public discussions.

For Anderson, this diversity is not incidental; it is fundamental to the event’s value. “You’re going to get a better cross-section of the market,” he says, noting that understanding pipeline development increasingly requires engagement beyond the largest names.

That audience strategy extends beyond simple attendance figures, and DealCatalyst has paid close attention to how participants interact once they are in the room.

Based on feedback from previous conferences, DealCatalyst has invested strategically in improving networking efficiency with new technology, via digital tools designed to help attendees identify the most relevant connections in advance. Rather than arriving with an undifferentiated list of hundreds of participants, the networking tools allow delegates to be guided towards a smaller, more targeted set of meetings, Anderson says. “Instead of saying, ‘here’s a list of 100 people’, we’re getting smarter and saying, ‘here’s the 20 people you should meet’.”

For senior professionals with limited time, this focus on relevance over volume has become a key differentiator, turning networking from a passive activity into a structured part of the conference experience.

Content design is another area where the Fund Finance Europe Conference seeks to stand apart. Feedback from last year’s event highlighted both the depth of the sessions and the consistency of engagement throughout the day.

“We had packed rooms from session one pretty much all the way through the end of the day,” Anderson notes. That response, he says, reflected both the subject matter and the choice of speakers, many of whom were not regular fixtures on the fund finance conference circuit.

Last year’s conference saw more than half of attendees come from borrower and investor groups, rather than service providers, a ratio that Anderson says they are aiming to maintain or improve upon. “That audience mix is where the key to the entire event is,” he says. “If we can keep those ratios similar or better than last year, it continues to make a strong case that this event is different.”

The 2026 programme builds on that foundation, with sessions structured to explore how participants are navigating today’s fund finance environment, with borrowers, investors, and lenders all discussing real-world considerations rather than abstract frameworks.

While market evolution inevitably forms part of the conversation, the emphasis remains practical. Discussions around liquidity, structure, and product choice are framed through their implications for end users, rather than as standalone market commentary.

Ultimately, the DealCatalyst Fund Finance Europe Conference is positioned not as a generalist industry gathering, but as a focused forum shaped by the people who actually work with fund finance products daily. As Anderson puts it, the distinguishing factor is simple: “An emphasis on borrowers and investors, and on what fund finance means to them in practice.”

That clarity of purpose, combined with a deliberately curated audience and content strategy, is what DealCatalyst believes sets the Fund Finance Europe Conference apart. We at Brickfield are looking forward to what is shaping up to be a real highlight on the annual Fund Finance event calendar.

Brickfield Recruitment works with leading financial institutions in sourcing the very best fund finance talent. If you are interested in finding out more contact Rory Smith at Brickfield Recruitment on +44 7800 963 594 or at rory@brickfieldrecruitment.com.