Unlocking the private debt opportunity: my perspective on opportunity and growth
In the September/October edition of Investment and Pension Europe (IPE) Real Assets, Zach Lewy, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Arrow Global, explores the expanding opportunities in private debt. He explains how the retreat of traditional banks from lending, driven by regulatory pressures and high interest rates, is creating a ‘golden moment’ for private credit lenders who can step in with innovative and disciplined strategies.
While some sectors like office real estate and leveraged buyouts face challenges, Zach highlights promising areas such as residential real estate in Europe, fuelled by a housing shortage and migration trends, and the last-mile logistics sector driven by e-commerce. The hospitality sector in Southern Europe also offers growth potential due to evolving work-life preferences.
Arrow Global’s strong local presence and platform-based approach are critical in navigating these opportunities across the fragmented European market. Zach underscores the need for a disciplined and selective approach, emphasising prudent loan-to-value ratios and careful asset evaluation to build resilient portfolios. As private credit evolves, Zach predicts a shift towards asset-backed lending, offering institutional investors a stable, attractive alternative in the current economic climate.
Read the full article here

Zach Lewy
CEO, CIO, Fund Principal
Zach has more than 25 years of executive experience in investment management and asset servicing. He founded Arrow Global in 2005 and has since led the business as Group CEO and CIO, transforming it into a leading Pan-European investment manager specialising in private credit and real estate. Under Zach’s leadership, Arrow manages more than €110 billion of serviced assets across Western Europe and generates alpha across alternative asset classes, including opportunistic credit, real estate, and lending.
Zach has supervised over 3,000 deals at Arrow and plays a key role as lead Principal in Arrow’s fund manager. Prior to founding Arrow, he was an Officer of Sallie Mae, a Director at Vertex (the BPO division of United Utilities), and a Founder and Executive Director of 7C (a U.K. BPO company acquired by Vertex). He has also served as Chair of the U.K. Debt Buyers Association and the Chair of SCOR. In 2010, he was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Zach graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Economics with Honours and a Certificate in Applied and Computational Mathematics with Honours.