Her first step into asset management was as one of the first class of secondees from law firm Latham and Watkins to Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM). “I was a sort of ambassador from Latham to CSAM. I loved sitting on the credit investments group trading floor and dealing with walk up desk queries. After 10 months I returned to Latham, but then an opportunity to go in-house opened up at GSO, which had previously spun out of CSAM,” says Viravyne.

At MGG, the breadth of vehicles adds to the fun. MGG runs a range of closed end, open end/evergreen, leveraged and unleveraged funds, as well as co-investment vehicles. “This adds additional complexity and opportunities,” says Viravyne.

She also liaises with two primary external law firms and two compliance consultants: “One law firm advises us more on funds, and the other one more on deals. In compliance, we use ACA and Salus GRC, which was founded by the founders of Cordium”.  

SEC marketing rule 

Chhim is very much involved in overseeing fundraising documentation for multiple vehicles, which need to observe intricate rules around performance disclosure that have changed in response to the SEC’s marketing rule. Though MGG itself has long real money track records, and its principals have portable track records from previous firms, the regulations nonetheless require them to disclose what are defined as “hypothetical” returns for marketing purposes. “The November 2022 marketing rule has been steadily evolving with FAQs, and we are keeping up to speed with rules on disclosure and calculation – and keeping an eye on what peers are doing around methodology disclosures and labelling. The FAQs guidance has led us to change processes and I will deliver in-person training to our marketing, finance and accounting teams. We are doing this in-house because our application of the rules is very specific to MGG’s actual net numbers as they get released,” she explains. 

Valuation 

Chhim sits on the Investment Committee as a non-voting observer, which matches her status in most former roles. However, MGG encourages active and vocal participation firmwide at Investment Committee regardless of function or title. Third party valuation agents provide the valuations, and she needs to keep an especially close eye on any deals that may be undergoing write-downs due to distress or workouts. “I see it, live it and breathe it and I am comfortable with the process,” she confirms. 

Macroprudential regulation

Increasingly in the US direct lenders have stepped into voids left by banks, which can also lead to the somewhat pejorative term “shadow banking”, and macroprudential consideration of cyclicality is important. “The US regulators, Federal Reserve Board, SEC and some Congress members are very much focused on non-bank lenders. They have raised questions about whether private lenders have enough data versus public markets. We have a dialogue with US regulators and policymakers, including an in-person discussion arranged by industry associations in Washington DC, to understand the industry, data and asset class. We have participated as part of the Alternative Investment Management Association’s (AIMA) Alternative Credit Council, where my colleague Daniel Leger sits on the board,” explains Viravyne.

SEC Private Funds Advisers (PFA) Rules

Chhim privately supported the trade associations’ joint litigation against the SEC’s new PFA Rules, which has now prevailed in leading the Rules to be thrown out. Nonetheless, she had been preparing as if the entire PFA Rules were implemented. “The proposed disclosures around performance and expenses are already part of our process, where specific expenses can be easily identified in a more granular way than was historically required.”

The most onerous part of the PFA Rules seemed to be tracking preferential terms in side letters. “But fortunately, law firms and AIMA have put out playbooks and templates that would have helped manage the process. We had anticipated providing a summary of preferential terms to investors and would have been less keen to exhaustively reproduce every side letter with redactions,” explains Viravyne.

EU regulation

Chhim’s role also heeds European regulations around distribution, ESG reporting and specific rules for loan origination. MGG distributes in Europe via Waystone’s AIFM, which applies for passports for certain countries. MGG is in the process of converting some vehicles reporting under SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) article 6 to article 8, and new European vehicles have launched as article 8 as well. Chhim awaits the final rule, coming into force in 2026, to see whether and how AIFMD II regulations around leverage, concentration and asset retention for loan originating AIFs are germane.

Women in finance

Chhim is keen to advance women in finance both inside MGG and in the wider industry. “I mentor female colleagues at MGG and am active in networking, including with peers and investors, and especially with fellow women at conferences and other events.”