Private Debt Intelligence – 10/17/2022
Direct lending funds in Europe enjoy post-pandemic boom
Chart
Download Data
[wpdm_package id=’60998′]
The number of direct lending funds has hit a new record. Europe-based managers have launched 80 funds so far in 2022, almost double the full-year figure for 2021, when 42 funds were raised. Whilst fund managers have been successful across a range of direct lending strategies, the largest is funds focused on senior debt, which has a lower risk profile and has accounted for more than half the funds raised each year for the past decade. The proportion of funds targeting higher-risk, higher-return strategies – including junior/subordinated and unitranche debt – has declined in recent years, though this has been offset by a rise in generalized direct lending funds, which may indicate a preference of investors to allow fund managers flexibility in a fast-moving market.
(Past performance is no guarantee of future results.)
Contact: Laura Messchendorp
laura.messchendorp@preqin.com
Latest news
Top 50 BDCs Accounted for 75% of Nonaccrual Loan Cost in Q2’26
The 50 largest BDCs, on the basis of total debt investments as of the second quarter of 2026, accounted for 75% of the total aggregate reported value of nonaccrual debt at cost and fair value.
US private debt AUM ($B) by channel
In 2025 and the early part of 2026, the retail channel added AUM to the asset class at a much faster rate than institutional investors in both regions, with growth rates of 43.7% globally, 41.4% in the US, and 73. 1% in Europe through the beginning of 2026 compared with year-end 2024 figures.
