Credit fundraising: managers take care of infrastructure with new partnerships
Credit managers were busy launching new partnerships to support growth in infrastructure and CLOs. There were 13 announcements in the month paving the way for upcoming funds, platforms, and joint ventures

BlackRock holds $940 million first close on global private debt fund designed for UK pensions
BlackRock has collected $940 million on a first close of its new private debt fund BlackRock Diversified Private Debt Fund 

LP round up: $3.2 billion flows to 21 managers as private credit illiquidity premium holds firm
Investors allocated at least $3.2 billion to credit managers in April - and direct lending funds were in favour with Churchill and Ares being awarded two mandates

ESG factors show up in leveraged loan pricing in US
Environmental, social, and corporate governance factors are filtering through to the US CLO market and influencing loan prices

Credit fundraising: three massive European direct lending funds notch up €17.6 bn
Fundraising figures continued upwards in April as just over $24 billion was raised for credit funds, alongside $3.2 worth of allocations to credit managers. Nine funds held final closes including the largest European direct lending fund raised to date

LP round-up: $2.6 billion flows into 26 credit managers
A stuck ship in the Suez Canal may have prevented others from getting through one of the world's busiest waterways in March, but allocations to credit funds were much more free flowing as investors poured over $2.6 billion into the hands of credit managers

WTW to tackle lack of diversity across investment industry
Progress on diversity across the investment industry is “disappointingly slow”, according to research from Willis Towers Watson

BlackRock co-head of direct lending set to depart
The co-head of direct lending at BlackRock and Tennenbaum Capital Partner’s special situations unit is set to leave the firm by the end of the year

LP round up: $5 billion flows to credit as private market allocations increase
Global institutional investors allocated nearly $5 billion to credit funds this week, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Fund performance: Almost a third of credit funds reach positive YTD returns
July has been a successful month for many credit funds, despite the recovery peaking in May and June

LP round up: horseshoe does the trick for Pimco and other distressed managers
Institutional investors poured $2.7 billion into credit this week through 14 managers, according to board documentation seen by Creditflux

Fitch places five BDCs on negative outlook
Fitch Ratings has changed the outlooks of five business development companies from stable to negative folllowing a review of its rated BDCs

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.

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

BlackRock joins BDCs with increased leverage approval
BlackRock Capital has become the latest business development company to adopt the higher leverage after the Small Business Credit Availability Act was amended last year

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  

BlackRock launches $2 billion coporate credit fund with special situations remit
BlackRock has closed its flagship opportunistic credit fund, Global Credit Opportunities, with $2 billion capital commitments

San Mateo pension backs BlackRock direct lending fund
San Mateo County Employees' Retirement Association is set to make a commitment of $35 million to BlackRock Direct Lending Fund IX, according to an agenda item document seen by Creditflux.

BlackRock names global alternatives head amid senior leadership shake-up
BlackRock has reshuffled its leadership and made several senior changes across various parts of its business, according to an internal memo seen by Creditflux

BlackRock to merge infra and real estate platforms as key figure departs
BlackRock is restructuring its infastructure and real estate platforms into a real assets division, sources say

UK pension looks to take investment grade strategy global
UK pension fund National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) has issued a search for a global investment grade corporate bond manager

New York pension ups commitment to HarbourVest by $400 million
New York State Teachers' Retirement System has topped up commitments to Maple Fund, having already approved $600 million in 2017

Majority of investors seek to increase private credit allocations, BlackRock survey reveals
Over half of investors plan to increase their allocation to private credit in 2019, according to an institutional client rebalancing report published by BlackRock

BlackRock BDC seeks shareholder approval to fast-track leverage increase
BlackRock TCP Capital Corp has become the latest business development company to seek shareholders’ approval to double its use of leverage

BlackRock adds $34 billion of assets with Citibanamex buyout
BlackRock has acquired the asset management business of Citibanamex, a Mexico-based banking firm and subsidiary of Citigroup