Middle market

The state retirement system is looking to dedicate one of every six dollars it manages to direct lending - more than five times the industry average.

Family offices—mini-investment firms set up by the super rich to manage their personal wealth—have poured more and more cash into direct lending, Preqin says.

First Eagle, with $99 billion AUM, will expand its presence in structured finance-based direct lending to middle-market firms through the acquisition by uniting the two firms’ credit-business platforms, according to a release.

The month of October brought some jumbo unitranche loans to the direct lending market. It also brought declines in the quality and terms of broader deals, according to some participants.

According to Kroll, this is the middle-market lender's first securitization of growth-opportunity loans made to venture-capitalized software firms that have yet to develop earnings or substantial assets.

The $502 million Diamond CLO represents the first securitization of small/medium enterprise loans since Blackstone in the second quarter relaunched a direct lending business.