KKR bids farewell to European private credit specialist in London
A direct lender has left KKR Credit after almost two years working in the firm’s European private credit team in London

Embattled investment firm to shutter following tax avoidance lawsuit
Alternative investment firm Future Capital Partners Limited and its group are on the verge of closure, according to an investor letter seen by Creditflux

Patrimonium's Heine reveals what it takes to be a direct lender in Germany
Europe’s middle market lending community this week heard just how gruelling a job it is to source deals in Germany. Heine answered a number of important questions such as, "how many beers does it take for a sourcing manager to make it through one year?"

Aberdeen Standard Investments launches global private markets fund
Aberdeen Standard Investments has launched a £138 million Global Private Markets Fund (GPMF), which will invest in a diversified mix of private credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure

UK lender Goji teams with Prestige to launch renewables lending bond
Marketplace lender Goji has partnered with direct lender Prestige to launch an ISA-eligible "renewables lending bond"

Muzinich hires managing director to UK mid market credit business
Muzinich has hired that John Clifford as managing director in its UK office, according to an announcement

BNPP AM establishes two new private debt strategies
BNP Paribas Asset Management establishes two new private debt strategies: European Infra Debt and European Real Estate Debt

HSBC announces $550 million second close for diversified loan fund
HSBC Alternative Investments has announced the second close of its diversified loan fund, which will combine both loan investing and direct lending

ICG increases fundraising goal as direct lending funds near full deployment
London-based Intermediate Capital Group has increased its fundraising target to €6 billion per year on a rolling three-year basis

So much capital, so few deals: specialists fear for direct lending
No covenants, increasing leverage ratios and an outlook for rising rates means that direct lending is not all it's cracked up to be, according to several credit market participants

Hurdle rates topple as direct lenders look to boost fees
Some direct lending managers are lowering their hurdle rates in a bid to increase their fees

Alcentra launches third direct lending fund
A year on from closing its second direct lending fund, Alcentra is understood to be marketing fund three in its direct lending series

Direct lending head says market is overheating
A 2018 outlook report by KKR suggests now’s the time to reduce exposure to direct lending. This comes as another part of KKR goes on a direct lending fundraising spree

Managers predict skill will win out
We asked managers to predict the year ahead across a range of credit strategies. Overall, they had a positive outlook. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

European direct lending may not be as European as it seems
In European direct lending, raising capital has become the easy part of a manager’s job. But deploying that capital is more difficult, says Diala Minott, a London-based partner at law firm Paul Hastings

Axa IM holds €1.1 billion final close on European infrastructure debt fund
Axa Investment Managers – Real Assets (AXA IM) held a final close on its co-mingled pan-European infrastructure debt fund at over €1.1 billion, a spokesperson has confirmed

Manchester's Tosca holds £237.6 million final close for second debt fund
Tosca Debt Capital has held a final close for its second debt fund, Tosca Debt Capital Fund II, at £237.6 million ($335.6 million) 

Former ICG credit head Kershaw takes advisory role at distressed debt firm
Dagmar Kent Kershaw, the former head of Intermediate Capital Group's credit fund businessin Europe and Australia, has landed an advisory role at a $7 billion distressed debt manager

Hayfin launches new PE fund strategy headed by former Aberdeen specialist
European credit platform Hayfin Capital Management has launched a new private equity funds strategy, Creditflux has learned

London direct lender rebrands following acquisition by Investec
Investec Bank has rebranded Amicus Commercial Finance as Investec Capital Solutions, following Investec’s acquisition of Amicus Commercial Finance in December

Pemberton moves into supply chain finance after hiring senior portfolio manager
London-based Pemberton has announced the expansion of its senior management team with the appointment of Phil Ashdown, formerly of Tungsten Corporation, as a partner

Bluebay poised to launch third European private debt fund
London-based Bluebay Asset Management is seeking to launch its third European private debt fund, according to media reports

TPG's Questa joins London-based direct lender as managing director
Stefano Questa, formerly managing director at TPG, has joined European credit platform Hayfin Capital 

European CLO pioneer Wallace set to leave Maltese bank
A loan portfolio manager – who was behind a pioneering European 2.0 CLO – has left MeDirect Bank