Credit Fundraising: Blue Owl and WhiteHorse gain from improving animal spirits
Fundraising perked up in July as managers raised $14.9 billion for credit funds - the third highest monthly amount this year

JP Morgan AM taps Wells Fargo duo to lead private debt expansion
JP Morgan Asset Management has extended its private credit business with a new global performing credit group, hiring former Wells Fargo Asset Management officials as co-heads 

RBC hires ex-Citi structured credit sales head for alternatives push
RBC Capital Markets has hired Citi's former European structured credit sales head to lead its European alternatives and private capital solutions effort

Pemberton seeks partners for private debt strategies
Pemberton Asset Management is seeking to build long-term private debt partnerships with wealth and asset managers through its Pemberton Wealth & Asset Management Solutions initiative

Morgan Stanley IM rakes in $1.6 billion for junior debt fund
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has closed its latest junior direct lending fund, North Haven Credit Partners III, at $1.6 billion

Silver Point raises $2 billion for direct lending
Silver Point Capital has raised $2 billion through its direct lending business for Silver Point Specialty Credit Fund II. The firm says this is its hard cap and that $1 billion was its target

SLR targets $1 billion deployable capital for healthcare direct lending fund
SLR Capital Partners has surpassed the halfway mark on its first dedicated healthcare-focused direct lending fund, making a $480 million initial close

Blue Owl closes $2 billion debut opportunistic credit fund
Blue Owl has closed its inaugural credit opportunities fund, Owl Rock Opportunistic Fund at its $2 billion target

Eurazeo closes €1.5 billion European direct lending fund and readies next one
Eurazeo has closed its fifth European direct lending fund, Idinvest Private Debt V, at €1.5 billion

Tikehau retains 68% of investors for second €617 million special opps fund
Tikehau Capital has closed a second special opportunities fund at €617 million - and says 68% of commitments in Fund II were re-ups from investors in Tikehau’s inaugural special opportunities fund

Former Barings co-head of North American private finance lands at US direct lender
The ex-Barings co-head of North American private finance has landed at lower middle market US direct lender

HIG closes $1.65 billion US direct lending fund focused on non-sponsored deals
HIG WhiteHorse has closed a US direct lending strategy focused on sponsorless companies, HIG WhiteHorse Direct Lending Fund - 2020

Credit Rendezvous: And breathe...
The unanimous verdict is that credit spreads will be moving wider – they have to. But the difficulty credit fund managers face is predicting when the next sell-off comes and how sharp it will be. In the Q3 instalment of Creditflux’s Credit Rendezvous, the over-riding message from portfolio managers is that there’s little point in taking on too much risk. The report features the views of prominent credit figures including Paul Horvath (Orchard), Himani Trivedi (Nuveen), Ronnie Jaber (Onex), Graham Rainbow (Alcentra) and Michelle Russell-Dowe (Schroders). The report looks at 14 segments of the market including CLOs, direct lending, leveraged loans, distressed debt and credit derivatives.  

Northleaf closes global private credit fund with $1.2 billion deployable capital
Northleaf Capital Partners has raised more than $900 million for its second private credit strategy, Northleaf Private Credit II 

Golub deal volume hits record $9 billion in Q2
Golub Capital says the second quarter was its most productive ever in terms of deal origination

CIC holds final close on mezzanine fund at €450 million
CIC Private Debt has held a final close on its fifth mezzanine fund at €450 million, which it says is €50 million over its initial target

Antares hires experienced investor relations official from Barings
Antares Capital has hired a head of investor coverage in asset management

Diversity database shines light on credit firms not stepping up
Private credit managers are significantly lagging behind their industry counterparts when it comes to hiring under-represented groups, including front office, distribution and investment committee roles, according to data from Diversity­Metrics, a new data-driven platform launched by executive search firm Jensen Partners

Fund performance: Déjà vu as April leaders dominate
CLO funds stayed in the top flight for another month as they took over the top 10 credit hedge fund return table in May, when 87% of all funds listed made positive returns

Credit funds at a glance (July 2021)
A round up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Credit fundraising: managers take care of infrastructure with new partnerships
Credit managers were busy launching new partnerships to support growth in infrastructure and CLOs. There were 13 announcements in the month paving the way for upcoming funds, platforms, and joint ventures

MV collects €526 million for second senior direct lending fund
MV Credit has held a final close on its second senior direct lending fund, MV Senior II

PennantPark closes levered sleeve of private credit fund at $460 million
PennantPark Investment Advisers has closed the levered sleeve of its fifth comingled fund, PennantPark Senior Credit Fund Levered. Its unlevered sleeve, PennantPark Senior Credit Fund, is due to hold a final close in December

KSL amasses $753 million for fourth travel and leisure credit fund
 KSL Capital Partners Credit Opportunities Fund III had an initial $675 million target and fundraising took ‘less than a year’

Incus targets €500 million for fourth SME credit fund
The Madrid-headquartered firm has launched its fourth asset-backed European credit fund, Incus European Credit Fund IV, with a €500 million target and €650 million hard cap