Metropolitan launches fund and finds PE sponsors 'more amenable to non-sponsored terms'
Metropolitan Partners has closed an onshore direct lending fund at $240 million. It focuses on non-sponsored companies and has not made an investment in a sponsored deal for three years. But the firm sees an increasing number of sponsored situations arising from the covid-19 disruption

New Hampshire pension invests $50 million in US direct lending
​New Hampshire Retirement System has allocated $50 million to a US direct lending manage with which it has a relationship, having committed $40 million and $50 million to predecessor funds

Florida pension allocates $600 million to three credit managers
Florida State Board of Administration has awarded $600 million to three credit managers in the first quarter, according to a board update seen by Creditflux

US pension approves four-year private credit plan as direct lenders report performance
Santa Barbara County Employees has approved a private credit pacing plan from investment consultant RVK to maintain a commitment schedule of $40 million per year to the asset class until 2024 to achieve its target allocation and diversification

BlueTorch's Genda details direct lending flows and pricing as he ramps up new fund
BlueTorch Capital has witnessed a 20% pickup in dealflow since covid-19 but, while the company's portfolio has avoided retailers, airlines and hotels, it has not gone unscathed, said chief executive officer Kevin Genda

Tennessee pension awards $125 million to special situations credit fund
Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System has awarded $125 million to a special situations credit fund 

The opportunities to build par and spread within a CLO haven’t been this plentiful since 2009
Last year’s CLOs could become the benchmark for manager performance

Owl Rock becomes last investment grade BDC to win increased leverage approval
Owl Rock Capital Corporation has become the last investment grade business development company to cut its asset coverage requirement from 200% to 150%, after receiving unaminous approval from its board of directors on Tuesday

Bain uses rights offerings as unusual route to raise cash for BDC
Bain Speciality Finance is looking to raise additional capital through a rights offering to “further strengthen its balance sheet” and “provide additional flexibility to support existing portfolio companies over the coming months”, chief executive officer Michael Ewald said in an open letter to shareholders on Monday

Balance Point collects $1.1 billion for lower mid-market direct lending
Balance Point Capital has collected $1.1 billion on its fourth direct lending fund focused on the lower middle market, Balance Point Partners IV

Direct Lending Perspectives underlines record-breaking 2019 issuance
European direct lending volumes hit €18.2 billion in a record-breaking 2019, according to the European Direct Lending Perspectives report by Creditflux and Debtwire

Vida promotes marketing specialist to CIO
Vida Capital Management has appointed a new president and chief investment officer, effective 1 March

NXT launches first direct lending fund since Orix takeover
NXT Capital is back in the market fundraising for its sixth direct lending fund, NXT Capital Senior Loan Fund VI, according to US regulatory filings 

Raymond James scores first arranging credit with Deerpath CLO
Deerpath Capital Management has priced its second CLO backed by loans to middle market companies as Raymond James scored its first CLO arranging credit as co-placement agent

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.

Fortress digests CraftWorks bankruptcy
CraftWorks Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, with Fortress Investments holding all of the Tennessee restaurant operator's first lien debt - of which over half is in middle market CLOs. The New York-based firm has submitted a “stalking horse” bid to buy CraftWorks' assets

Mid-market lender Comvest sells minority stake to Affiliated Managers

Comvest Partners has sold a minority equity stake to Affiliated Managers Group. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.  

Pantheon and Solutio join forces on €250 million private debt secondaries fund
Pantheon Ventures and Munich-based Solutio have held a final close on their inaugural joint private debt secondary fund above its €250 million hard-cap

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

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

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

Texas pension backs ICG credit fund
Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) committed $167 million to a fund managed by Intermediate Capital Group in January, according to documents seen by Creditflux.  

Pathway closes second private credit fund at $1 billion
Pathway Capital Management has held a final close on its second private credit fund at $1 billion 

Partners nears $100 billion in AUM as CLOs drive private debt growth
Swiss manager Partners Group has reached $94.1 billion in assets under management, with CLOs boosting the firm’s growth, according to its 2019 annual results  

Louisiana pension to put $125 million into direct lending and fund financing
The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana is set to invest $125 million for two credit funds, according to documents seen by Creditflux