eQ Asset Management has established its first private credit fund, raising EUR90 million in a first and final closing on 31 March 2017.
eQ Private Credit Fund has 38 limited partners.
The fund invests in debt capital instruments issued by private equity sponsored European unlisted companies.
A minimum of 75 per cent of investments will consist of senior loans with best priority on collateral alongside bank loans. In addition, a maximum 25 per cent can be invested in junior loans. The portfolio will consist of 25-40 floating rate loans with a net target return of 6-7 per cent per annum.
“eQ analysed the European private credit market for a long time before launching its first fund. Experience and risk management are crucial qualities in credit markets. Therefore, we decided to partner with London based MV Credit Partners with an outstanding long track record,” says Staffan Jåfs, head of private equity at eQ.
“eQ Private Credit fits well into the fixed income portfolios of our clients and adds diversification to their alternative investments. The first loans are already being negotiated and we aim to be fully invested within 18 months. We recently strengthened our internal credit resources by hiring Anne Riekki to take charge of private credit. Many of our clients build their private equity programs with us long term. With the new fund we can now also build private credit programs for our clients.”
eQ’s latest US private equity fund, eQ PE IX US, held its second closing on 27 April, 2017 with almost USD82 million of commitments and 41 limited partners. The fund will continue raising capital until the final closing to be held in June.
“We raised our first US private equity fund in 2015 with 80 million USD of commitments. Our second US fund has exceeded that amount already in its second closing. The cooperation with our partner RCP Advisors is running extremely well. Our first US fund was fully invested in two years with eleven funds in USA and Canada. The first commitment for fund IX has already been made and we aim to select 10-12 funds before the end of 2018,” says Jåfs.
