Chicago manager holds initial close for $1 billion private credit fund
Monroe Capital has held a $348 million initial close for its third private credit fund, which has a $1 billion hard cap, market sources say

Ares switches to C-Corp structure as it announces "record year" in earnings release
Ares has announced a change to its corporate tax status in an earnings release that described 2017 as “a record year” for the firm

AB reports "exceptional" 2017 and growing AUM
AB has reported its earnings for 2017, described by chief executive officer Seth Bernstein as an “exceptional” year for the firm

Tree Line promotes MD to partner amid expansion of direct lending platform
Tree Line has promoted private credit specialist Frank Cupido to partner

Ares and Varagon expand direct lending JV to $6.4 billion
Ares Capital and Varagon have expanded their joint venture’s investment capacity by $3.5 billion

AUM drops but Oaktree dubs 2017 a "strong" year
Alternative investment specialist Oaktree Capital Management has reported a slight decrease in assets under management for the year of 2017 – but the Los Angeles-based firm’s chief executive described the year as a “strong” one for the company

Energy PE firm Orion closes second credit opps fund at $816 million
Orion Energy Partners, a private equity firm providing capital solutions to mid-market energy infrastructure businesses, has closed its second credit opportunity fund at $816 million

Virginia pension fund cuts Oaktree high yield account
Virginia Retirement System (VRS) has terminated Oaktree as a high yield debt manager, Creditflux has learnt

KKR considers switching from partnership to corporation
Global investment firm KKR is considering a change to its legal structure, with the firm’s senior management and board of directors currently evaluating whether to convert from a partnership to a corporation, or C-corp

Carlyle group's solid Q4 results include $1.7 billion of global credit fundraising
The firm’s fourth quarter global credit fundraising of $1.7 billion included four CLOs, follow-on closes in their new private BDCs, structured credit fund, and managed accounts

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

White Oak buys niche lender FNCC
White Oak Global Advisors has acquired specialist direct lender Federal National Commercial Credit (FNCC), in a bid to “focus on growing its asset-based lending platform”

Texas pension fund commits $100 million to distressed debt fund
Texas County and District Retirement System has committed $100 million to a Connecticut-based fund manager

THL Credit assigns new role to senior portfolio manager Murphy
Alternative credit manager THL Credit Advisors has promoted managing director Brian Murphy to head of capital markets

Middle-market lender to debut $1.5 billion special situations credit fund
Chicago-based Monroe Capital is launching a special situations credit fund with a $1 billion target size, according to market sources

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

Monroe's new CLO suggests increasing demand for mid market deals
The basis between middle market CLOs and CLOs backed by broadly syndicated loans is (slowly) shrinking

Arizona pension fund looks to commit up to $250 million to direct lending
Arizona Public Safety Retirement System (Psprs) is considering investing up to $250 million in direct lending, according to investment board documentation dated 31 January

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

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

The creditors' ball and making your own weather
Our columnist Randy Schwimmer sums up the key takeaways from the "Davos of credit"