BlueBay Asset Management, a specialist manager of fixed income and alternative investments, has held the final close of the BlueBay Direct Lending Fund.
The fund has raised over EUR800m of commitments from institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies and family offices.
The fund will make investments of EUR20m to EUR100m in size to UK and Northern European mid-market companies with an emphasis on targeting high-quality businesses with an enterprise value of less than EUR500m. The fund aims to provide primarily senior and subordinated loans for acquisitions, capital growth, restructuring and liquidity situations. To date over 20 per cent of the fund has been deployed in a number of deals.
Anthony Fobel, partner and head of private lending at BlueBay Asset Management, says: “We are delighted to have surpassed our initial target of EUR500m and to have raised over EUR800m within just over a year of commencing our fund-raising. The fund will provide much needed growth capital to European mid-market businesses, whether privately or publicly owned, as well as a source of finance to private equity sponsors. The growth in direct lending funds is providing a real financing alternative to companies and private equity firms in an environment of continued retrenchment by banks from mid-market lending and we are seeing a large number of exciting investment opportunities. Similarly, as the search for yield by investors continues, senior credit represents a lower risk but high yielding investment opportunity.”
