The Marque The Marque

Andre Hakkak

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

White Oak Global Advisors LLC


Andre Hakkak
Bassim Haidar
Optasia
Sheffield Hale
Atlanta History Center

Andre Hakkak’s Biography

Andre Hakkak is Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of White Oak Global Advisors. He is a distinguished finance industry professional, company founder and entrepreneur, bringing innovative investment products and solutions to asset management and finance.

White Oak is a global investment management firm with over $10 billion in assets and 450 professionals across its financing affiliates. As a mission-based company, it supports small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) with financing solutions promoting their well-being and growth initiatives. To date, White Oak has financed over 20,000 SMEs in the US, UK, Canada and Australia with its product suite of 25 bank-like lending solutions, including asset-based lending, PACE and equipment leasing. In total, White Oak has deployed $24 billion of capital.

Andre is an advocate of decreasing global carbon footprint and has led initiatives ranging from solar energy financing to supporting plant-based plastic companies. Since its founding in 2007, White Oak has originated over $6 billion in capital for ESG and impact-oriented investments...
Andre Hakkak is Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of White Oak Global Advisors. He is a distinguished finance industry professional, company founder and entrepreneur, bringing innovative investment products and solutions to asset management and finance.

White Oak is a global investment management firm with over $10 billion in assets and 450 professionals across its financing affiliates. As a mission-based company, it supports small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) with financing solutions promoting their well-being and growth initiatives. To date, White Oak has financed over 20,000 SMEs in the US, UK, Canada and Australia with its product suite of 25 bank-like lending solutions, including asset-based lending, PACE and equipment leasing. In total, White Oak has deployed $24 billion of capital.

Andre is an advocate of decreasing global carbon footprint and has led initiatives ranging from solar energy financing to supporting plant-based plastic companies. Since its founding in 2007, White Oak has originated over $6 billion in capital for ESG and impact-oriented investments and is dedicated to developing climate change, alternative energy and healthcare solutions. It maintains a partnership with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).

Andre previously founded Alpine Global and served as Chief Investment Officer. Prior to this, he founded Suisse Global Investments, where he served as Portfolio Manager. He began his career at Robertson Stephens & Co. in investment banking.

Throughout his career, Andre has been a sought-after executive and served as a board member for companies, foundations and philanthropic endeavors. In his free time, he enjoys scuba diving, wake-surfing, mountain biking and tennis. He frequently comments on current market trends and has been featured in financial publications including Bloomberg, Reuters and Pensions & Investments.

Andre holds a BS in Finance & Marketing from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.
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Andre Hakkak’s Newsfeed

ABL Advisor
White Oak Deploys Nearly $1.5B in Lending Activity in 2022

“The current economic landscape continued to drive demand on the borrower side for flexible lending solutions," said Andre Hakkak. "Investors continued to show their appetite for a private credit strategy that offers bank-like lending within an asset management framework. I’m thrilled by the impact we had in 2022."

Business Wire
White Oak Deploys over $1 Billion in Lending Activity in First Half of 2022

“As we celebrate our 15th anniversary this year, I’m incredibly proud of what the firm has accomplished in 2022 thus far, both on behalf of our investors and as a support system to our borrower clients,” said Andre Hakkak.

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Andre Hakkak’s Background

White Oak Global Advisors LLC
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
2007 - Present
White Oak Global Advisors, LLC is a global alternative asset manager that focuses on developing finance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses in order to facilitate growth, refinancing and recapitalization. Andre also serves as Co-portfolio manager and on the firm's Investment Committee.
 
Alpine Global Management, LLC logo Alpine Global Management, LLC logo
Alpine Global Management, LLC
Founder & Chief Investment Officer
2000 - 2007
New York, NY, USA
Andre founded Alpine Global after serving at the helm of Suisse Global. Alpine Global is a strategic investment management firm that focuses on alternative fixed income and real estate investments.
 
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Board Positions

Panasas
Board Member
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Panasas provides high-performance data storage solutions that help support research and innovation across many industries in the world.
 

Media

White Oak Global Advisors Partners with Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
Quoted
Oct 2020
Bryn Mawr, PA, USA
"We are pleased to further formalize our ESG risk management and underwriting processes by leveraging SASB standards as a baseline,” said White Oak’s Chief Executive Officer, Andre Hakkak. “This partnership underscores White Oak’s commitment to ensuring our underlying business processes create a variety of attractive ESG-compliant credit investment opportunities.”
 
Subordinated Lenders Stuck in the Middle
Quoted
Sep 2020
New York, NY, USA
Andre shares his thoughts in this article that discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected parts of the subordinated debt market, especially due to its place in the middle of the capital structure between senior debt and equity.
 
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Interviews

COVID and SMEs with Andre Hakkak, chief executive officer of White Oak Global Advisors
Interview
Feb 2021
Andre Hakkak, CEO of White Oak Global Advisors LLC, says “White Oak has been busy. We are a facilitator of money transferred from the government into the real economy. Our UK affiliate has given out roughly £250m to around 800 businesses and is the sixth or seventh largest CBILS lender. We’re proud to do out part in getting taxpayer money into the real economy."
 
Finding Opportunities in the Private Debt Market
Interview | ABF Journal Podcast
Jan 2021
For the 25th episode of the ABF Journal podcast, Andre Hakkak, CEO and Co-founder of White Oak Global Advisors, shared his thoughts on the current private debt market. He gave an overview of 2020 and the first few weeks of 2021 and highlighted potential opportunities and risks across the direct lending spectrum for the rest of this year.
 

Accreditation

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Series 7, 63, and 24
1991
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is the self-regulating body for the financial industry that is responsible for setting standards and defining regulations that professionals in the industry are guided by.
 

Publications

Don’t lose sight of ESG in distressed investing amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Co-Author
May 2020
London, UK
Andre and Teresa Cutter advocate for maintaining ESG principles despite distressed investing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair elaborate on why lending money during the pandemic must be for the benefit of businesses.
 
Commentary: Private debt as the new private equity amid COVID-19
Co-Author
Apr 2020
New York, NY, USA
Andre writes about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests private debt as the new private equity amid the pandemic as 'consumer sentiment and spending fade away.'
 
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Press Releases

White Oak Provides $51.5 Million Commitment to HRB Brands to Finance Acquisition of Personal Care Brands From Helen of Troy
Nov 2021
New York, NY, USA
CEO Andre Hakkak sees this as a great opportunity for White Oak to partner with leading private equity group Tengram, and to be a part of HRB Brands' continued growth.
 
White Oak Global Advisors, LLC Makes Key New Hires to Expand Aviation Finance Offerings
Press Release
Feb 2020
New York, NY, USA
Andre comments on White Oak’s expansion to accommodate its new aviation finance offerings and says, “We are pleased to add Bob, Asa and Greg to our Commercial Aviation team...I’m confident that their decades of experience in aviation leasing, financing and asset management... will allow them to provide tailored and comprehensive solutions for our clients.”
 

Andre Hakkak’s Education

UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
Bachelor of Science | Finance and Marketing