Investors

BlueBay hits €2bn hard-cap for second DL fund – exclusive

The London-based asset manager raised double its initial target and well over its €2 billion hard-cap.

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BlueBay Asset Management is closing its second direct-lending fund on its hard-cap of €2 billion, PDI can reveal.
The fund had an initial target of €1 billion and the London-headquartered mid-market debt team closed the vehicle to new investors after five months of fundraising in June, said sources close to the situation. 

The fund was almost 50 percent oversubscribed and is within days of its final close, one of the sources added. Between closing the fund to new investors and final close, the firm has brought in investors from the predecessor vehicle and worked on the documentation. 

A spokeswoman for BlueBay was unavailable for comment. 

BlueBay Direct Lending Fund II is around 25 percent committed into new deals, added the source. 

The firm’s private debt team, led by Anthony Fobel, extends loans to mid-market European corporates. Most of its borrowers are private equity-backed and seeking flexible capital to support a strategic acquisition or other such event-driven financing.

BlueBay closed its first direct-lending fund on €800 million in 2013. The fund was fully deployed by the end of last year. 

Investors in the fund include Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana, New Hampshire Retirement System, School Employees’ Retirement System of Ohio and Orange County Employees’ Retirement System, according to PDI Research & Analytics.