White Oak closes fifth private credit fund on as much as $2.3bn

Global alternative asset manager White Oak Global Advisors has closed its fifth private credit fund with a total raise of as much as $2.3 billion, according to a news release.

The White Oak Yield Spectrum Master Fund V will focus on originated lending opportunities from non-sponsored small and medium-sized businesses.

Of the total $2.3 billion raise, $1.3 billion is committed capital while $1 billion was received for specialty finance investments focused on asset-based lending. The additional $1 billion is structured as a fund of one, with commitments from an institutional investor, a person familiar with the fund said.

“We wanted this particular $1 billion specially designed for exposure in asset-based lending,” Andre Hakkak, co-founder and chief executive officer at White Oak, told Private Debt Investor.

“A lot of investors are getting more educated to asset-based lending since it is not a traditional lending product. And that complements the 25 other lending products we have that investors like for the diversification in lending.”

The fund was initially launched in June 2019, according to PDI research.

Capital for the fund was raised from pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors, White Oak said. Among the investors, San Joaquin County Employees’ Retirement Association, a public pension fund, has committed $50 million, according to PDI research.

In September, White Oak bought global trade finance platform Finacity through a “complex structured acquisition”, Hakkak told PDI last month. The acquisition followed news earlier this year that supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital would be filing for bankruptcy and would be selling Finacity. That purchase is unrelated to the latest fundraise.

Finacity transacts more than $100 billion in trade finance receivables each year through more than 50 financial institutions in 58 currencies, making it the largest non-bank trade finance platform in the world. The company will rebrand as White Oak Finacity but still operate as a standalone business.

San Francisco-based White Oak was formed in 2007 and had $6.99 billion of assets under management as of 7 June, according to a filing with the SEC. The manager has more than 215 professionals working in credit solutions, including asset-based lending commercial finance and clean energy lending.