BNP Paribas hired Thomas Cassidy, managing director, to head its healthcare banking group within its U.S. leveraged finance business. He reports to Kathryn Swintek, head of leveraged finance, North America. Cassidy began in October and covers healthcare issuers, small- and mid-cap, that have a growth focus and a need for capital. There are about six individuals working on his team.
Cassidy said he was attracted to the bank because of its long track record of actively playing in the leveraged finance markets through a number of credit cycles. "It has a growing platform and is focused on three verticals that I have spent time in: sponsors, health care and media and telecom," he said. "In my case, healthcare in particular has a lot of interesting growth prospects and is still very mid-cap focused, which fits BNP's strong suit. And importantly, we have the capital and financing capability to meet all of our clients' growth requirements."
The bank has completed transactions for CRC Health Group, Cornerstone Healthcare and Triumph HealthCare, over the last 18-months, Cassidy said. It most recently closed a $270 million deal for Triumph to back the company's acquisition of SCCI Health Services. He said the bank is looking at a few deals, but nothing has closed.
Cassidy joined the bank from JPMorgan, where he was most recently a managing director in the financial sponsor group. Before that he worked in the bank's acquisition finance group.