AB mid-market direct lending team raises $171.5m

AB Private Credit Investors Middle Market Direct Lending Fund has raised $171.5 million from investors, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund is still raising capital but should reach final close by the summer, said a person familiar with the situation. 

A spokesman for Alliance Bernstein declined to comment. 

The mid-market direct lending fund is the first for New York-headquartered asset manager Alliance Bernstein. Last year it established a new private credit platform after hiring the senior team from Barclays Private Credit Partners. 

The move was part of a broader effort to build out a broad range of alternative investment products and was in response to clients seeking exposure to direct lending, the firm said in a statement at the time. 

The mid-market lending team, led by Brent Humphries who joined from Barclays, focuses on secured lending with first-lien, unitranche and second-lien loans making up the majority of lending. Mezzanine, structured preferred stock and non-control equity co-investments are also considered. 

Alliance Bernstein’s strategies include fixed income, multi-strategy, equities and alternatives. It had $474 billion in assets under management at the end of 2014.