Ronga succeeds Clunie at Macquarie

Sergio Ronga has assumed the helm of Macquarie Capital Advisers’ London-based UK and European debt advisory business, Infrastructure Investor has learnt. The unit was previously headed by Spence Clunie, who left earlier this year and is now in the process of launching Ancala Partners, which will aim to raise a fund of up to €1 billion to invest in infrastructure assets in need of refinancing.

Ronga joined the Macquarie debt advisory team in 2006, some nine months after it had been launched by Clunie. The team had only three members at the time, rising to 20 at the height of the market and falling back to 12 currently.

Before joining Macquarie, Ronga had spent 14 months at Deutsche Bank. Before this, he worked for around three years in RBS’ European leveraged finance team, having started his career with Deloitte Corporate Finance.

Ronga says Macquarie is seeing a strong pipeline of advisory mandates in relation to refinancings, with a notable increase in subordinated debt refinancings stemming from deals done between 2005 and 2007. Other active areas include workouts and acquisition financings for new deals.

Last week, Infrastructure Investor revealed that Clunie’s new London-based business Ancala Partners is planning to raise a new fund next year that will address the funding needs of infrastructure and essential service assets that require refinancing. It is understood that the fund will aim to garner between €750 million and €1 billion. 

Clunie is understood to be currently in the process of building a management committee prior to expanding his investment team. He is also continuing to work for Macquarie as a consultant on a couple of refinancing projects.