Friday letter: Who’s good at raising private debt funds?

Raising capital isn't easy. It's particularly hard if you're operating in a relatively new asset class, the global economy is still clawing its way out of a recession, and institutional investors are hell-bent on reducing, rather than expanding, the number of relationships they have with fund managers.

So it's heartening to see, and report on, so many recent fundraising closes by private debt managers.

From Metric Capital Partners recent close substantially beyond its hard cap for its second fund, to Varde Partners' ninth fund which closed on $2 billion last month, managers are reaping the rewards for the spent years educating investors as to the merits of the asset class, and the hard effort deploying previous funds.

A real sign of progress for the industry is the number of first-time funds which have reached, or are closing in on, final closes too. The likes of Beechbrook Capital in the UK have benefited from governmental initiatives to promote the growth of the asset class, certainly, but they've also put in a phenomenal amount of legwork getting out into the market and winning over investors.

Our forthcoming ranking of private debt fund managers, the PDI 30 will reveal who does this best. Now in its second years, the PDI 30 will rank fundraising performance over the last five years, and as such, provides an objective barometer of firms' ability to win commitments from investors. Of course, the ability to raise capital does have as its corollary the ability to deliver alpha. Firms with a consistent track record of raising capital will always be able to point to a similar track record of performance.

We urge any of you who feel that you might be eligible for the PDI 30 to get in touch with our Research and Analytics team who put together the ranking. You can find the full list of criteria for inclusion HERE, together with a submission form.

The PDI 30 will be published in the September issue of the magazine, including profiles of the top 10, analysis and additional, smaller rankings for CLO managers and first time funds.

Get involved now.