BMO Sponsor Finance’s Jon Landis & Dan Weeks on the global private debt landscape
INTERVIEWSERIES
Jon Landis, Managing Director & Dan Weeks, Managing Director & Team Lead, BMO Sponsor Finance
November 2025
In this exclusive interview, Jon and Dan discuss why it is important to have direct origination capability in private debt, the role of PE sponsors in deal sourcing and how investor expectations are evolving around alignment and co-investment. They also discuss where they see best relative value in private debt globally, investor perceptions vs reality in US middle market and why fixed income investors are increasingly looking to private credit opportunities.
Watch the full interview which covers:
00:20 - Why is direct origination capability important in private debt?
02:01 - Why do you value deal sourcing from Private Equity Sponsors in undertaking your direct lending activities?
03:41 - How do you view the relative value between North American, European and Asian, including Australian, private debt in the current environment?
04:47 - What do you find to be the biggest disconnect between investor perceptions and the reality of the US middle market?
06:16 - When it comes to direct lending, how are investor expectations evolving around alignment and co-investment?
07:33 - Why do you think fixed income investors are increasingly looking to private credit opportunities?
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Jon Landis, Managing Director, BMO Sponsor Finance
Jon joined BMO Sponsor Finance in 2017 and leads its Investor Business Development efforts. Prior to joining BMO, Jon acted in a similar capacity at Deerpath Capital Management, and prior to Deerpath, he spent 16 years in the Institutional Fixed Income market at Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan, UBS and others, focusing on structured products to financial institutions. Responsibilities included sales & trading, research, portfolio analytics and strategy. Jon earned a B.S. in Business from Cornell University and an MBA from Boston University. He holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Dan Weeks, Managing Director & Team Lead, BMO Sponsor Finance
Dan is a Managing Director and Team Lead at BMO Sponsor Finance where he is responsible for managing a team focused on originating, structuring, underwriting and managing investments for private equity clients. His experience spans multiple structures with significant experience in direct lending including senior stretch, senior / mezzanine, senior first-lien / second-lien, unitranche and equity co-invests. Prior to joining the Sponsor Finance group he worked at BMO Capital Markets, Bank of Montreal's corporate and investment bank, where he advised clients on raising various forms of capital. Dan started his career at JPMorgan Chase, through the Bank Oneacquisition. He graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Finance and received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Accounting, Entrepreneurship, and Finance.
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