Atalaya raises $1bn in latest specialty finance fund

The $6 billion New York-based private credit specialist Atalaya Capital Management closed its fifth asset income fund at its $1 billion hard cap with assets coming from public and corporate pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and endowments.

“We are grateful for our new and long-term investors, who clearly recognize our leadership position in specialty finance,” said Ivan Zinn, founding partner and chief investment officer of Atalaya Capital Management. “We are excited to expand our track record of identifying meaningful opportunities within consumer and commercial lending, an area tat we believe continues to be underserved by traditional capital sources.”

Asset Income Fund V’s focus is on specialty finance with a focus on loan origination and credit-related assets in the specialty finance sector. Investments include: consumer finance assets (credit card originations, consumer installment loans, auto loans, Buy Now Pay Later financing); commercial finance assets (SME financing, merchant cash advance and factoring); and select leasing opportunities such as middle-market mission critical equipment and aviation assets.

Last year, Atalaya closed a new credit facility with LendingUSA, providing the point-of-sale lending company with a financing package of up to $200 million. The investment follows $5 billion private credit firm’s previous investment of $250 million in 2019. With this latest closing, LendingUSA said it will be poised to continue expanding its business and accelerating its growth and development of new products. Prior to that in April 2020, the firm closed a $100 million senior secured revolving credit facility to CURO Group Holdings Corp, a firm that serves underbanked customers in the U.S. and Canada.

The previous vintage, AIF IV, was also over subscribed and closed at its hard cap with $900 million in 2018.  Since the strategy’s 2012 inception, the team has made more than 135 investments. The strategy was originally launched to complement Atalaya’s existing Special Opportunities Fund strategy.