London pension considers direct lending allocation
The City of Westminster pension fund is considering a 5% allocation to a new mandate which includes direct lending,

Californian pension opens search for consultant
Sacramento County Employees Retirement Scheme has launched a request for proposals from consultants to advise on what it has dubbed its 'alternatives portfolio'

Alcentra makes big hires from Fosun and Park Square as Delaney-Smith retires
Alcentra’s European direct lending team is going through an overhaul with the co-head of this business, Graeme Delaney-Smith, retiring from the firm and two well known names joining

Credit Rendezvous: the outlook in 2020 across a dozen segments of the credit market
Welcome to the Credit Rendezvous, the first instalment of a regular feature published by Creditflux that tracks credit market dynamics in a dozen segments from investment grade, liquid loans, CLOs and CSOs all the way through to distressed debt. We view this as the meeting point for credit specialists across strategies to share their perspectives

California pension looks to cut liquid credit allocations
Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association will likely cut back on liquid credit and completely remove hedge fund allocations in 2020.. But the pension is optimistic about core bonds – and may include it as a new asset class

First Eagle closes fourth direct lending fund at $782 million
First Eagle Investment Management has collected $782 million on its fourth direct lending fund, THL Credit Direct Lending Fund IV, marking the first private credit fund closed since Boston-based THL Credit was acquired by First Eagle in December 

Canadian pension launches $300 million private credit platform to invest in India
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the CAD 326.7 billion Canadian pension, has rolled out a $300 million private credit platform in partnership with Pirmal Asset Management to focus on private credit opportunities in India

Pimco plans to outperform come rain or shine with $4.5bn all-weather fund
Pimco has become the latest manager to fashion a flexible, all weather credit fund that invests across public and private markets, geographies and capital structures. The Newport Beach-based manager is hoping to raise $3 billion for the strategy. With half a turn of leverage, it could have up to $4.5 billion to deploy.

PGIM invests $13 billion in mid market companies in 2019
PGIM Private Capital provided $13 billion in senior and junior capital to 228 middle-market companies globally in 2019, according to a company press release

Ares appoints head of Australia
Ares Management has hired an ex-Macquarie Group official to lead Ares Australia Management, the newly created joint venture between Ares and Sydney-based Fidante Partners

BDCs feel squeeze on liquidity as SEC rejects plea for relief
Sources say that the chances of relief being granted to business development companies over the acquired fund fees and expenses (AFFE) rule are slim. Last month, industry body Coalition for Business Development stated optimistically that the “harm caused by the AFFE disclosure can be remedied in the final fund of funds rules”.

Pemberton adds managing director and head of Spain
Pemberton, a direct lender, has added a hire from Royal Bank of Scotland to lead Spain investments 

Private credit funds could find better buying opportunities this year, says NEPC
Institutional investors looking to allocate to private credit in 2020 should focus on distressed debt, opportunistic credit and niche lending, according to investment consultant NEPC, with 2019 vintage funds potentially seeing “better buying opportunities” despite valuations being at cyclical highs

Apollo Global Management ends year with a bang
CLOs returned 8% while direct origination continues to be "rocket fuel", the company said

Yielco collects €675 million across two private debt fund of fund strategies
The Munich-based firm held a final close on its inaugural private debt fund of funds strategy and has also won a separate prive debt mandate

Carlyle appoints regional head of credit opps fund
Carlyle Group has hired a managing director to serve as North American head of its credit opps fund

TPG in talks to split from credit arm TSSP - media reports
Private equity firm TPG is in talks to split with its credit arm TPG Sixth Street Partners, according to media reports, with TPG considering looking to launch and build out its own internal credit platform

Investors preferred real asset debt to corporate private debt in 2019, finds Bfinance
Bfinance stated that, in dollar terms, real asset debt searches conducted by investors outweighed corporate private debt searches in 2019

New York pension allocates $100 million to US direct lending fund
New York State Teachers Common has awarded $100 million to a direct lending fund, as its private debt portfolio delivers 10.7% net IRR 

Louisiana pension earmarks $30 million for US private credit
This isn’t a first time relationship for the $1.8 billion pension fund, who previously granted  $50 million to the manager's previous fund in October 2018

Amundi joins forces with French bank to launch midcap loan fund
Amundi has partnered with French bank LCL to launch a mid-cap direct lending fund - and the fund has collected €130 million on its first close, just over half its target size 

Ares' new Asian credit affiliate wins $400 million from New York pension
New York State Common Retirement Fund has committed $400 million to distressed and special situations investments in the Asia-Pacific region  

Banco Sabadell joins forces with Amundi
Banco Sabadell and Amundi have announced a long-term strategic partnership, in a bid to boost fund business in Spain  

Hamilton Lane shakes up European leadership
Private markets manager Hamilton Lane has promoted two of its personnel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as the $481 billion firm is looking to boost its growth efforts through the region