Riverside credit arm looking to raise up to $350m

 Riverside Credit Solutions is rounding up capital for its first fund, which will invest in companies with between $5 million and $50 million of EBITDA, according to PDI data.

The Boston-based debt arm of mid-market buyout shop The Riverside Company is looking to raise between $200 million and $350 million for Riverside Credit Solutions I. The group provides revolvers, first lien senior secured term loans, stretch senior term loan, unitranche loan, first lien last out term loans and equity co-investments.

A Riverside representative declined to comment.

The vehicle will be Riverside’s first dedicated to mid-market lending. The firm already has the $50 million Riverside Acceleration Capital fund, which provides growth capital for enterprise software companies, and the $418 million Riverside Strategic Capital Fund, which provides structured equity investments to companies with over $5 million of EBITDA. Both can make credit investments.

David Dobies, former managing director at The TCW Group and a NewStar Financial founding partner, joined the platform in 2016 to launch the mid-market lending strategy, as Private Debt Investor reported at the time. In addition, he brought over David Kilpatrick from Citizens Bank and Tom Gillis from Silicon Valley Bank to work in Riverside’s credit platform. Both men worked with Dobies at NewStar.

The loans from its platform would amount to 40-65 percent of the target company’s enterprise value, Dobies told PDI. Any direct origination Riverside offers will be carried out mainly through private equity firms or financial intermediaries, though a small portion will go straight to the companies.