Despite negative headlines and increased scrutiny by regulators, the private credit market continues to attract capital from institutional investors across direct lending, opportunistic credit and asset-backed finance (ABF).
Barings announced in May it secured more than $19bn (£14.2bn) over a two-year fundraising period for its global direct lending strategy. The firm said institutional, insurance and wealth investors committed capital with deployment activity targeting 355 transactions globally.
Meanwhile, more than $16bn was raised by Churchill Asset Management in January for its most recent senior lending programme. Representing its largest capital raise to date, commitments were made from approximately 325 institutional and high-net-worth investors globally.
Crescent Capital Group stood out as the firm raising the largest amount for a single fund, collecting $10.8bn for its fourth US direct lending fund. The fund, which attracted commitments from more than 100 institutional investors globally, exceeded its initial target by more than $2.5bn and is the largest fundraise in the firm’s history.
For opportunistic credit, Blackstone raised over $10bn (£7.5bn) for its fifth opportunistic credit fund in April.
Also noteworthy are the fundraising efforts of Antares Capital and Ares Management, who both secured $8.5bn for their private market funds. Antares received commitments from new and existing investors for its third Senior Loan Fund (SLF III), while Ares exceeded its target for an ABF fund.
