ICG buys structuring talent for infrastructure debt
Two hires from Schroders and Antin point a $126bn platform at the tranches European infrastructure borrowers don't price on a screen.
September 10
The Direct Lending Desk 9 stories this week · 111 total
PGIM's $1.5bn football book shows the trophy premium is gone
A decade of private credit money has settled European football into a mid-single-digit trade where relegation, not scarcity, sets the price.
Private credit closes 45% of French deals
A six-point gain turns direct lenders from a niche option into the pricing reference in France.
Nuveen Private Capital hires Barings' Rdzak for consultant relations
Rdzak's mandate links NPC's $99bn platform to the consultants who now control institutional access as private credit fundraising concentrates.
Audax-Churchill tie shows a market moving to bigger loans
Flat first-half volume masks a market doing fewer, larger loans, with Audax and Churchill tied at No. 1.
Golub resets 2020-vintage CLO again in $496M rework
The R2 suffix shows the same collateral is back in front of CLO investors, making repetition the latest sign of where private credit funding lives.
Kilde's Creditstar hybrid blurs debt-equity lines
The Singapore platform's €4.6m convertible at a €130m pre-money valuation gives a lender an option on consumer credit's upside.
Pluto's flagship fund crosses £500m and targets Europe
As Lending Vehicle VIII expands beyond the UK, Pluto is betting on the 65% of borrowers who come back.
Bridgepoint's €1.2bn CV gives a 2017 fund a new clock
The Pantheon-led transfer shows secondaries capital absorbing seasoned direct loans, turning fund maturity from a selling deadline into a choice.
European direct lending is now the M&A market
Debtwire data puts direct lenders at the center of European leveraged buyouts, making their underwriting discipline the swing factor for the region's M&A credit cycle.
PGIM names Frankfurt-based head for DACH direct lending
The M&G hire puts a proven regional operator on sponsor-led origination as European direct lending volume sags.
Blackstone sets October test for hybrid CLO
A euro-denominated hybrid blending private credit and broadly syndicated loans would put Blackstone's private assets under public CLO pricing; October's print will show what that access costs.
Oak Hill CLO reissue prices AAA debt under SOFR plus 120
A sub-120bp senior note print makes repricing a seasoned CLO cheap enough to widen the set of managers who can fund existing books through resets.
Antares prices $850M private credit CLO, AAA at 145bp
The upsized Antares CLO 2026-4 shows new-issue private credit collateral still has liability buyers.
IFM opens Singapore office to push Asia private credit
The Australian pension-backed investor plans to put up to half of its $1bn private credit fund in Asia, backed by A$175m in Australian government support.
Arini hires Bain private equity partner to run hybrid capital
A buyout veteran moves into a credit seat as the firm leans into flexible financing.
Pallas Capital secures £200m facility for UK bridging growth
A £200m senior line from a European debt fund gives the January-launched UK lender committed capital before it has a track record of its own.
KKR hires BofA, JPMorgan bankers for European credit
A former EMEA debt capital markets head and a JPMorgan M&A dealmaker join KKR as CLO resets make funding cheaper and sourcing assets the harder problem.
Faes & Co's London hire is a distribution move
Michael Tschirley joins from LendInvest to market the US residential bridge-loan fund to UK and European investors.
Blue Owl plants a Zurich flag for European private wealth
The firm's new Swiss base, led by a Schroders veteran, targets private banks and wealth managers as the private-credit distribution race crosses the Atlantic.
Pollen Street backs £110m Morpheus bridge line
A senior line to Morpheus makes Pollen Street a funder to a funder, wagering on the lender's technology and underwriting.
Gordon Brothers pitches flexibility as asset-based lending's edge
The Feb. 3 PDI byline offers no numbers, just a bet that collateral, not narrative, will decide the next credit cycle.
Ares sees first real dispersion in direct lending in years
After years of uniform pricing, direct lenders are diverging, and allocators who buy the asset class on beta are underwriting yesterday's market.
Sound Point hires Cerberus MD to lead CRE capital formation
The $44bn manager's CRE credit book spans 167 loans and $4.3bn, and Faris AbiNader is the hire meant to fund the next leg.
MUFG's Japan platform makes origination the scarce asset
The bank's parallel talks with BlackRock and MSIM would rent out its corporate relationships instead of building a credit book from zero.
Ares prints $510M CLO at 121bp as new-issue meets reset
A fresh-issue print one basis point from last week's reset wave puts a floor under direct lending's funding costs.
LSTA draws fund-level ABLs into one diligence framework
Two new LSTA practice notes map collateral controls across cash-flow loans, operating-company ABLs, and CLO warehouses.
Private credit's $208bn half hides a tech pullback
CVC Credit's second-quarter report shows a widening gap between the capital flowing in and the assets managers are willing to touch.
Velocity takes on Toorak's $3bn book and buys the platform that runs it
Velocity Financial is acquiring KKR-backed Toorak's business-purpose lending platform and taking over management of its $3bn loan portfolio, a consolidation play in direct lending.
BSP tells lenders to underwrite a wider rate path
Ahead of Jackson Hole, Benefit Street Partners' Anant Kumar says volatility should be priced in, not waited out.
Bridge's $500m supplier fund bets on order-backed lending
The Citi-backed platform is aiming to turn the retail payment cycle into a repeatable direct lending product.
Noble puts debt and exits under one capital markets hire
The $5bn hospitality manager adds Matt Noland to a role spanning debt origination and strategic asset realizations, as exits become the scarce skill in direct lending.
Sona hybrid CLO opens Europe's private credit market to smaller managers
The BSL/private credit structure lowers the scale barrier that kept European CLO funding in the hands of the largest direct lenders.
Victory's real prize in First Eagle deal is a CLO engine
The $41bn CLO platform inside the transaction gives Victory the machinery to fund its private credit book in-house.
Four managers price $1.8bn of US CLOs into summer break
Fresh issuance from Sixth Street, FS, Aegon and Polus shows the funding valve is still open, and who prints now may set next cycle's cost of capital.
The new front in credit: staffing the syndication desk
A staffing spree across banks and private credit managers shows the two loan markets are becoming one—and the prize is control of the mark.
European direct lending hits a half-year record as Q2 volumes slide
Debtwire's league table shows a front-loaded 2026: a record first half, a 25% second-quarter drop, and Ares atop a concentrated market.
Partners Group exits Gong cha, adds $1bn Asia mandate
A 2019 sole-lender package realizes on Bain Capital's acquisition, and a fresh $1bn senior-and-junior mandate says the Asia bet is only moving.
Park Square's credit pitch is selection, not exposure
The pitch fits a crowded market; the next vintage will decide.
LSTA's latest credit forms adjust the market's baseline
The trade group's revised templates are the default starting point for direct-lending documentation, and a short list of clarifications still moves the terms of the next wave of deals.