Press Release

10 June 2025, London: The European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA) announces today a re-organisation of its Initiative Committees from eight to six to consolidate the focus and implementation of its priorities.

The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee will become a new working group within the ESG Committee because it is a vital component of the ‘S’ and the ‘G’ in ESG. DEI initiatives will be better served as part of the ESG Committee’s mission to improve disclosure on ESG topics and develop best practice guidance on ESG in the leveraged finance (‘LevFin’) market.

The Engagement Committee is renamed Engagement and Compliance Committee and integrates the AI Committee as a new working group. AI represents a core feature of investing as it relates to the threats and opportunities to borrowers, operational efficiencies for asset managers, and fiduciary duties to end investors and regulators. Many ELFA initiatives in AI centre on third party platform solutions which require approval by compliance departments to ensure that processes are auditable and traceable.

From today, there are six ELFA Initiative Committees: CLO Investor, Disclosure & Transparency, Engagement & Compliance, ESG, Leveraged Loan, and Private Credit.

ELFA is also scoping out the possibility of a new committee to address emerging trends and issues in LevFin – topics such as jurisdictional variation in Enforcement Rights, Directors Duties, and Co-Op agreements – with a decision expected before Q4 2025.

Ed Eyerman, CEO of ELFA said, “This re-organisation recognises that AI initiatives represent compliance issues for asset managers, and that DEI initiatives can be elevated within ESG. My aim is to foster deeper participation and engagement within the Committees amongst our member firms, and to create more opportunities for new expert partners to support the working groups of our Committees. ELFA Committees are run entirely by volunteer members working to improve LevFin market processes and resiliency for our members and partners, borrowers and issuers, and end-investors with insurance claims, pensions and savings. They are doing essential work to raise the profile of European leveraged finance asset classes, and I want to thank everyone involved.”