Highbridge Principal Strategies (HPS), a credit and private investment firm, has held the final closing of HPS Specialty Loan Fund III with total capital of over USD3bn.
The fund will invest primarily in newly issued, secured debt in refinancings, acquisitions and restructurings by middle-market companies, as well as companies in special situations.
As part of HPS’ private credit offering, the Specialty Direct Lending platform has leveraged the firm’s global scale and credit expertise, institutional infrastructure and investment strategy to establish itself as a leader in the direct lending space. The HPS Specialty Loan Fund’s dedicated investment team has over a century of combined experience in providing creative solutions to US and European companies facing complex funding requirements.
"Investor response to the HPS Specialty Loan Fund has been extremely positive and we’re appreciative of the trust and confidence our investors have demonstrated in our platform and investment team,” says Mike Patterson, partner of HPS and portfolio manager for the HPS Specialty Loan Fund. “In the current credit environment, we have seen significant opportunities for our specialty direct lending group to develop customised financing solutions for companies that do not have efficient access to the capital markets, either because of their size or the complexity of their particular situation.”
"The fund seeks to leverage the existing imbalance in supply and demand for secured direct debt capital,” says Scott Kapnick, chief executive officer of HPS and managing partner of Highbridge Capital Management. “We believe investors have an appetite to be active in this space, and the Specialty Loan Fund offers an opportunity to do so with an organisation with the scale, world-class due diligence resources and risk management capabilities of Highbridge Principal Strategies.”
