Crescent Capital raises $6bn for direct lending fund

The $38 billion Crescent Capital Group held the final close of its third direct lending fund, raising $6 billion in investable capital including targeted leverage and separately managed accounts investing alongside the fund.

Crescent Direct Lending Fund III (CDL Fund III) raised $3.2 billion in equity commitments and $1 billion in targeted leverage. The fund was more than double the size of CDL Fund II, which closed in November 2018. Dechert advised Crescent Capital Group LP on the successful close.

The latest fundraise provides Crescent with one of the largest balance sheets focused on directly originated lending to U.S.-based, private equity-backed companies in the lower middle market, according to Co-Heads of Crescent Direct Lending John Bowman and Scott Carpenter.

The balance sheet strength they say allows them to offer private equity firms substantial capital for both platform and add-on acquisitions with target hold capabilities of $150 million to $200 million in size. This capital allows sponsors a significant competitive advantage in terms of certainty of financing and the ability to close large transactions on an expedited basis as well as the ability to provide add-on capital as their companies grow.

CDL Fund III is actively investing and has issued $1.6 billion of senior loan commitments to date.

“Our direct lending platform continues to grow, and with the scale of CDL Fund III, we are in position to continue to offer our clients superior flexible capital to meet their business needs,” Jean-Marc Chapus, managing partner and co-founder of Crescent Capital Group. “This successful fundraise is a testament to the strength and appeal of Crescent Capital’s overall private credit platform, and we appreciate our investors’ continued support of our longstanding strategies.”

Since its 2005 inception, the Crescent Direct Lending team has issued more than $9 billion of aggregate loan commitments to more than 200 companies in a variety of industries and over 125 unique private equity sponsors.