BlueBay Asset Management (BlueBay) Private Debt Group has held the final close of its Senior Loan Fund with investable capital, including leverage, in excess of EUR3 billion.
The Fund has significantly exceeded its initial target, with strong support from both existing and new institutional investors globally. BlueBay’s Private Debt platform now has over EUR7 billion in AuM and has successfully completed over 55 transactions across nine geographies since inception in 2011.
The new Senior Loan Fund aims to provide credit to upper mid-market European businesses to fill the funding gap left by banks, through bespoke financing solutions for leveraged buy-outs (LBOs), M&A, corporate financing, growth financing and re-financings. The Fund is BlueBay’s third generation of Private Debt vehicles and complements its Direct Lending funds by focusing on larger, lower-levered, senior debt transactions.
The Fund had substantial support from existing investors in BlueBay’s Private Debt business. The Senior Loan Fund also attracted a strong group of new institutional investors from Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East, demonstrating BlueBay’s established track record and leading position in the European Direct Lending market. To accommodate its diverse investor base, the Fund offers both levered and unlevered investment options across several currencies.
At final close, the Fund is 12 per cent committed across six transactions. BlueBay believes the deal pipeline remains strong, reflecting a growing awareness and acceptance of alternative lenders to banks, as well as demand from mid-market corporates for larger bespoke financing solutions from leading European Private Debt funds.
Anthony Fobel, Head of Private Debt at BlueBay, says: “We are delighted with the strong response from major institutional investors globally to our Senior Loan Fund. Together, our Senior Loan and Direct Lending funds provide BlueBay with significant fire- power to offer financing solutions to both private equity and corporate-backed businesses, to enable them to pursue their acquisition and growth objectives. We continue to see a very strong pipeline of investment opportunities across Europe as economies pick up, M&A markets remain strong and the structural shift towards alternative lenders accelerates.”
