Updated:
Monachil Capital Partners
Ali Meli’s Monachil Capital Partners writes unlevered, asset-backed private credit from Greenwich — a structure built to avoid forced-liquidations risk.
Monachil Capital Partners
Ali Meli founded Monachil Capital Partners in 2019, stepping away from a 14-year Goldman Sachs career that culminated in his role as Partner and Global Co-Head of Structured Finance, Investing and Lending. The firm was built from the start around Meli’s conviction that disciplined, repeatable process — not market beta — drives alpha in private credit. Joseph McNeila, who spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs and founded its Principal Funding and Investments group in New York, served as President and CFO from 2021 to 2025 and remains a Senior Advisor. Monachil originates unlevered, senior secured, asset-backed loans across consumer finance, commercial finance, transportation and specialty lending. Financing flows to non-bank lenders and tech-enabled origination platforms, with asset classes spanning personal loans, auto leases, equipment finance, aircraft loans, railcar financing and merchant cash advances. The firm also invests opportunistically in syndicated ABS, targeting relative-value dislocations. The capital-preservation mandate requires a bottoms-up underwriting process, and Monachil’s proprietary data platform reconciles loan-level data daily to verify asset existence and performance, automatically removing delinquent or unverifiable loans from the borrowing base. The team numbers nearly 20, and senior management has committed $30 million alongside external investors. Monachil launched its first fund, the Monachil Private Credit Fund, in August 2020; the Monachil Credit Income Fund followed in December 2022, seeded by an initial institutional commitment in May 2022. The firm operates out of a single office in Greenwich, Connecticut. May 2022: Monachil received an initial seed investment, shortly before the Monachil Credit Income Fund’s December 2022 launch (per the firm, May 2022). Monachil’s structural differentiator is its deliberate unlevered posture — rare in a sector where many managers amplify returns with fund-level borrowing. Combined with daily, data-driven collateral monitoring that purges non-performing loans from the asset pool, the architecture removes the forced-seller dynamic that triggers loss crystallization in standard levered credit vehicles. The setup resembles a structured-finance desk transplanted inside a permanent-capital vehicle, run by the same Goldman partner who built that desk internally at the bank.
General information
Firm type
Private Credit
Year founded
2019
AUM
$100M–$500M (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Greenwich
Corporate office
Greenwich, CT, United States
Principals
Ali Meli
Founder, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner
Joseph McNeila
Senior Advisor
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Monachil Capital Partners?
Ali Meli controls all investment decisions as Founder, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner. Meli spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as Partner and Global Co-Head of Structured Finance, Investing and Lending, where he led some of the firm’s largest structured credit transactions. Joseph McNeila, now a Senior Advisor, previously served as President and CFO and also came out of Goldman’s structured-finance leadership.
How does Monachil source its deal flow?
Monachil originates loans directly to non-bank lenders, specialty finance companies and tech-enabled lending platforms — it does not rely on broadly syndicated channels for its private credit book. The underwriting process is bottoms-up and asset-level, with a proprietary data platform that reconciles loan data daily to verify portfolio quality.
Is Monachil structured as a family office?
No. Monachil Capital Partners is a registered asset manager operating two commingled funds — the Monachil Private Credit Fund (launched August 2020) and the Monachil Credit Income Fund (launched December 2022). It manages external institutional capital alongside $30 million in senior management co-investment.
Does Monachil use leverage at the fund level?
Monachil explicitly runs its investment vehicles unlevered, a deliberate structural choice that removes the risk of forced asset sales during market dislocations. The firm underwrites to a capital preservation-first mandate and monitors collateral performance on a daily basis, purging non-performing loans from the borrowing base.
What asset classes does Monachil target?
The firm finances pools of consumer loans (personal, auto, student, home improvement), commercial obligations (equipment finance, working capital, trade finance), transportation assets (aircraft, railcars, shipping containers) and other receivables including invoice factoring and merchant cash advances. Public-market exposure comes through opportunistic syndicated ABS positions.
How is Monachil related to Goldman Sachs?
Monachil has no structural tie to Goldman Sachs, but its senior leadership is drawn directly from Goldman’s structured-finance division. Ali Meli was a Partner and Global Co-Head of Structured Finance, Investing and Lending; Joseph McNeila founded the Principal Funding and Investments group and ran its European arm for a decade before joining Monachil.
What is Monachil’s posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Monachil has not disclosed a co-investment program alongside external general partners. The firm pools investor capital into its two commingled vehicles, which then originate and hold private credit assets directly. Any co-investor relationships would likely be disclosed in fund offering documents rather than public materials.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on registered investment advisers?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: