Private Debt: A Slow Start for Europe Historically, Europe and North America have accounted for the lion’s share of the private debt fundraising market. However, Europe-focused fundraising did experience a slight downtick in levels in the first quarter of 2018, with just four funds reaching a final close and securing an aggregate €1.9bn. By contrast,…

Private Debt and Public Market Performance A key issue for investors when evaluating the performance of their private debt investments is the correlation to public markets. Part of the appeal of private debt is its low correlation to other asset classes, as well as its long-term and illiquid nature. As such, though, it makes accurately…

Private Debt Fundraising Struggles to Gain Momentum in Asia Although the rapid expansion of the private debt industry is widely recognised, it is equally apparent that the bulk of the increase has been focused on established markets in North America and Europe. Less focus has been paid to opportunities in Asia, and consequently the region…

Private Debt Deals: North America vs. Europe 2017 saw the highest level of fundraising activity for private debt funds to date, a strong indication of increasing investor appetite for the asset class. However, fund managers must now put this capital to work. In a recent Preqin survey, the largest proportion of fund managers cited valuations…

Women Account for Less than a Fifth of Private Debt Employees The lack of female representation in alternative assets has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, as women account for less than a fifth of employees in firms across all alternative asset classes. When looking at the representation of women in different levels seniority,…

Sovereign Wealth Funds Invest in Private Debt Many institutional investors regard private debt as an asset class that presents attractive opportunities amid low interest rates and stringent regulatory requirements imposed on banks post-Global Financial Crisis. Sovereign wealth funds also have gravitated to the asset class, and 38% of this group of investors are known to…

North America Dominates the Distressed Debt Market The distressed debt market in North America remains the largest globally: 75% of all distressed debt funds raised since 2015 have been primarily focused on the region, amounting to an aggregate $73bn in capital secured. Following similar patterns seen in the overall private debt universe,… Subscribe to Read

Direct Lending Drives Dry Powder Growth The private debt industry has seen relatively small increases in dry powder (capital waiting to be deployed) in recent years. After spiking by 23% across 2015, annual rises in 2016 and 2017 were just 3% and 7% respectively, with a further 3% rise to the end of April 2018….

Private Debt Funds in Market: An Overview In Q1 2018, direct lending vehicles – a strategy that typically dominates private debt fundraising – accounted for roughly just 36% of funds closed and a similar proportion of aggregate capital raised. This proved to be a decline in proportions from 2017, when the strategy made up 47%…

Direct Lending Fundraising Drops in Q1 2018 The private debt industry saw record year in 2017 in which 156 funds raised an aggregate $115bn. Q1 2018 however, has seen a slowdown in fundraising levels – just nineteen private debt funds reached a final close, raising a combined $14bn. Direct lending in particular saw a decrease…