The $476 billion asset firm Credit Suisse Asset Management held the final close of its first direct lending fund with $1.67 billion in capital commitments.
The Private Credit Opportunities Fund invests in private debt financing across the capital structure, including secured first and second Lien loans, unitranche financings, and preferred equity made directly to upper middle market companies in North America and Europe.
“We are pleased to close our first direct lending fund launched to take advantage of the convergence between the syndicated and private credit markets,” said John Popp, global head and chief investment officer of Credit Suisse Asset Management’s Credit Investments Group. “The investor demand we have seen validates CIG’s position as an experienced investor of choice in the non-investment grade credit markets.”
The unit is said to be one of the largest leveraged finance groups in the industry, managing roughly $65 billion in primarily non-investment grade credit assets. To date, the fund has deployed approximately of its asset, which will have in excess of $3 billion of deployable capital including leverage.
The dedicated private credit team is viewed by Credit Suisse as a natural extension of its Credit Investment Group business. In January 2021, the firm hired Kevin Lawi from Canada’s Public Sector Pension Fund as a managing director and portfolio manager for Credit Suisse’s direct lending team.
As a leading provider for over two decades of capital solutions to non-investment grade companies in North America and Europe issuing in the broadly syndicated market, the firm made headlines when in 2020 the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) announced a partnership with Credit Suisse Asset Management to create a multi-billion dollar direct private credit platform that would provide financing via secured first and second lien loans to upper middle-market and larger companies in the U.S. and Europe.
