Park Square promotes four after departure of direct lending head
Park Square has announced four promotions to partner, which comes a couple of months after its head of direct lending Howard Sharp parted ways with the firm, as previously reported by Debtwire

Golub makes its way into Europe with big direct lending hire in London
Golub Capital has ticked off one of its big targets for 2020 – establishing a European direct lending business – with market sources indicating that the firm has hired a senior official from Guggenheim in London

Värde launches $2.5 billion global credit fund
Värde Partners has raised $2.47 billion for a new global credit fund, according to an announcement today

Private debt tops the private markets agenda for insurers, finds Schroders
Insurers currently allocate the largest proportion of their private assets’ portfolio to private debt, followed by real estate, according to study published by asset manager Schroders  

JP Morgan AM moves CFO to head up private credit
The chief financial officer of JP Morgan Asset Management has switched to a newly created role as head of private credit

Private debt secondaries expected to soar in 2020
Private debt secondaries grew massively in 2019 — and more is expected this year.

Pennsylvania pension creates private credit bucket
Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System has approved a new 4% allocation to the private credit asset class

Beware of "mequity" risk in direct lending, writes Barings
Barings co-head of global private finance, Ian Fowler, predicts that the adoption of lending terms associated with broadly syndicated loans into private credit will not prove beneficial in the long term

BNP Paribas AM set to launch Nest-like private credit offer to UK pensions
French manager BNP Paribas Asset Management is set to launch a diversified private credit fund for smaller UK pension funds over the first half of 2020, similar to the one it structured for the pension scheme Nest  

Pantheon appoints ex-Star Mountain official as head of global private debt
Pantheon has appointed a former Star Mountain Capital official as partner and global head of private debt in New York 

UK pension partnership launches maiden private credit offering at £581 million
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (BCPP) is set to commit £581 million in private credit, as part of its maiden offering in this asset class  

West coast pension looks to step up direct lending allocations
The City of Fresno Retirement System will commit $140-160 million to private credit for the next two years, according to board documentation seen by Creditflux. This comes amid a pause in direct lending commitments for the pension fund, which has not committed any capital to this market in 2019

45% of insurers look to increase private debt allocations, finds Natixis IM survey
Private debt allocations are expected to grow for 45% of insurers over the next three years, according to a recent survey by Natixis Investment Management. But regulation and internal restrictions are the biggest challenges to greater adoption of private markets allocation

Minnesota pension to invest $300 million in distressed and private credit funds
Minnesota State Board of Investments is set to invest $100 million in a mezzanine debt fund and $200 million in a distressed debt fund

Arizona pension to deploy up to $700 million a year in private credit
Arizona Public Safety Employee System is looking to deploy $600-700 million in private credit strategies per year in order to meet its target allocation, according to board documents seen by Creditflux.

Azimut hires ex-Dyal official as it aims to buy minority equity in asset managers
Azimut will initially focus on acquiring minority stakes in alternative asset managers with under $3 billion AUM – including private credit, private equity, infrastructure and real estate firms

Canadian pension awards €300 million to middle market real estate debt
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has awarded €300 million to a separately managed account focused on real estate across Spain and Portugal. The pension fund did not name who this partnership was with 

Direct lenders' unitranche greed poses challenge to CLO sourcing
European direct lenders are increasingly expressing their preference to be the sole lender in large unitranche deals, whereas the opposite is true in the US, where direct lenders are more focused on syndicating their deals    

Managers dispel myth that lenders can’t influence ESG
There’s a growing belief among credit fund managers that they can influence borrowers to take on ESG-friendly practices, contrary to the widely-accepted notion that the business practices of companies are dictated by their private equity owners.

Tikehau builds private debt secondary platform with senior hire
Tikehau Capital has bolstered its private debt capabilities with the launch of a new secondaries platform

Private credit growth helps Hamilton Lane 13% growth in AUM
Alternative manager Hamilton Lane has reached $481 billion in assets under management and advice as of September, with credit funds supporting the organisation’s growth  

Proskauer promotes eight to partner in credit
Law firm Proskauer has promoted 15 lawyers to partners in its London, New York and Boston offices – including eight who work in credit

UK pension hires BNP Paribas AM for starring role in core-satellite private credit fund
UK pension fund Nest has appointed BNP Paribas Asset Management to run the core of a private credit fund, sources say, in an arrangement which sees Amundi and BlackRock manage certain satellite investments  

Boston pension looks to allocate $60 million to private debt
The Boston Retirement System has launched a request for proposals in which it seeks a manager to oversee a $60 million private debt portfolio

Direct lending across the Atlantic: Creditflux unveils two direct lending reports
Creditflux is pleased to unveil two direct lending reports with the third edition of European Direct Lending Perspectives now available, along with the inaugural US Private Credit Perspectives report.