Debt funds partially increased their market share against banks in several key geographies across Europe, according to a new report by Houlihan Lokey.
The firm’s latest MidCapMonitor for Q1 2025, which provides an analysis of mid-market European private equity-sponsored debt financing activity across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Benelux, Italy and the Alpine and Nordic regions, found debt funds continued to gain market share in the first quarter of this year.
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Debt funds in the UK, Germany, France and the Benelux region increased their market shares to 60 per cent, 67 per cent, 43 per cent, and 89 per cent, respectively.
However, all of those areas excluding Benelux saw an overall slowdown in activity in Q1 compared with Q4 of last year.
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The number of of completed unitranche deals fell by 35 per cent in the UK, 8 per cent in Germany and 39 per cent in France, while Benelux increased its activity by 13 per cent compared with the previous quarter.
“Despite a slowdown in activity during Q1 2025, reflective of a traditional lower-volume period, the European unitranche financing landscape remains robust andattractive,” said Thorsten Weber, managing director and head of sponsor finance, DACH, in Houlihan Lokey’s capital solutions group.
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