Corinthia names Ares' Craig Shirey as MD

Corinthia Global Management has appointed Ares’ Craig Shirey as managing director, based in the New York office.

The London-headquartered private credit firm said that Shirey will leverage his extensive experience and leadership expertise to support the firm’s global direct lending activities.

He brings decades of industry experience, having been a partner in the Ares credit group, where he focused on US direct lending.

Prior to joining Ares in 2011, Shirey was a director at the Bank of Ireland, where he focused on loan syndications supporting private equity sponsored leveraged buyout transactions.

Before that, he held positions at ABN AMRO Bank and Heller Financial, where he focused on loan syndications, credit management, and underwriting.

“I’ve long admired the Corinthia team’s enduring track-record across direct lending, their entrepreneurial approach and focus on long-term alignment with their clients,” said Shirey. “I look forward to applying my expertise in identifying new investment opportunities globally.”

Ian Fowler, co-chief executive at Corinthia, added: “Craig brings deep experience, vision and a fresh perspective to our leadership team.

“His appointment will play a central role in advancing our efforts to deliver strong returns for our investors, while reinforcing our culture of integrity and respect. By responsibly investing alongside our long-term private equity partners, we continue to strengthen our position as a world-class specialist private credit investment firm.”

Corinthia currently has eight offices across six countries – New York, Chicago, Charlotte, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore and Brisbane.

It launched last year to great fanfare, when 22 Barings private credit employees departed together as a team to join the new firm, triggering legal action by Barings against Corinthia and certain former staff members.