PE firms look to go it alone as credit units reach maturity
Private equity firms are starting to weigh up the merits of housing private debt businesses, with TPG Capital the latest to contemplate splitting with its credit business TPG Sixth Street. It follows EQT Capital, which announced a strategic review in January centred on parting ways with its credit unit.

Real assets are now the top picks in private credit
Direct lending is no longer the darling of the private credit market, with pension funds increasingly making space for credit strategies backed by real assets.

EIF backs Italian private debt fund
Finint Investment anticipates €150 million final close for its third Italian private debt fund in June, after receiving the backing of the European Investment Fund

Weak loan collateral will dent private credit returns, says Finnish pension
Valtion Elakerahasto, the state pension fund of Finland, says non-existing or weaker loan collateral has raised concerns about the returns private credit funds will generate in the coming years  

Kartesia hires former Santander official to lead UK senior debt origination
Kartesia has appointed former a Santander official to lead UK senior debt investments 

Sacramento pension earmarks $150 million for private credit in 2020
The pension fund expects to commit to two direct lending funds and one credit fund it describes as 'opportunistic'

EIB buys mezzanine tranche in Commerzbank SRT
Commerzbank has launched a €1.5 billion significant risk transfer with the European Investment Bank (EIB) announcing that it has invested in the mezzanine tranche of the securitisation

Italian pension fund seeks greater exposure to private debt
BNL, the pension fund of the investment manager BNP Paribas Italia, has launched a request for proposals (RFP), looking to commit €20 million to private debt closed-end funds.  

AlbaCore closes €1.5 billion direct lending fund nearly 60% deployed
AlbaCore Capital has deployed around 60% of its second direct lending fund, with the London-based manager closing the fund at €1.5 billion

Hadrian Wall tumbles as board calls for wind down of direct lending fund
Hadrian’s Wall Secured Investments' board of directors has decided that a wind down of the fund with cash returned to shareholders would be in the best interest of shareholders, according to a company update

European unitranche deal flow increased 11% last year, finds GCA
European direct lending unitranche deals completed in 2019 increased by 11%, according to GCA Altum's Q4 2019 MidCap Monitor, marking a record year for the industry 

Eurizon launches real assets division
Italian asset manager Eurizon has launched a new organisation, specialising in alternatives investments that have a focus on the real economy, including private debt.  

Mercer puts private debt at heart of $2.7 billion fund of fund
Mercer has held a final close at $2.7 billion for a private markets fund that offers investors access to private debt and sustainable products  

LGIM hires ESG head for real assets division
Legal & General Investment Management’s LGIM Real Assets has appointed Sheun Chan as head of environmental, social and corporate governance  

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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