Alternative credit investment firm Crescent Capital Group LP has held the final close of its third European specialty lending fund, Crescent European Specialty Lending Fund III (CESL III), with total investable capital of approximately €3bn.
The total included targeted leverage and separately managed accounts investing alongside the fund, which has both levered and unlevered sleeves. CESL III was oversubscribed, exceeding its initial target of €2bn.
The fundraising represents a significant increase from Crescent’s predecessor fund, Crescent European Specialty Lending Fund II, which announced its final close in April 2020 with €1.8bn of investable capital.
CESL III attracted a diverse mix of international institutional investors including leading global pension funds, insurance companies, financial institutions, foundations, and endowments.
The fund will continue Crescent’s strategy of investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of private secured debt securities issued by European companies, with a focus on directly-originated transactions. CESL III is actively investing and has committed approximately €800m across 16 transactions.
Crescent’s European Specialty Lending strategy began investing in Europe in 2014 and provides financing to private equity-backed European middle market companies typically with EBITDA of €5m to €25m. To date, Crescent has committed nearly €4bn across more than 70 investments in Europe.
