European Large-Cap Direct Lending Manager of the Year

Ares

Ares is a leading global alternative investment manager with ~$419bn AUM1, of which ~$68bn in European Direct Lending. Ares started its European Direct Lending business in 2007 gaining a first mover differentiation in a growing market that we believe benefits from the continued supply / demand imbalance in European credit. We seek to make self-originated debt investments in European companies to support growth, acquisitions, refinancings and the changing needs of our portfolio companies, while maintaining control positions in the capital structure. The Ares European Direct Lending team primarily focuses on companies in defensive industries with high free cash flow. We continue to leverage our demonstrated team capabilities with approximately 902 dedicated and experienced investment professionals, including ~20 portfolio management professionals, across six originating offices in Europe.  

1. As of December 31, 2023. AUM amounts include funds managed by Ivy Hill Asset Management, LP., a wholly owned portfolio company of Ares Capital Corporation and registered investment adviser. 
2. As of March 21, 2024. Includes offers accepted.   

CVC

CVC Credit is the dedicated credit arm of CVC with €40bn of AUM, across two strategies – Performing Credit and Private Credit, both of which focus on investments in companies across the sub-investment grade corporate credit markets in Europe and North America. 

CVC’s Private Credit business directly originates opportunities in high quality assets through the team's extensive relationships and by leveraging the sourcing power of the CVC Network and its broader private equity insights.  

Major achievements over the past year include: closing a third European Direct Lending fund, raising €6.3bn to deploy across the European Direct Lending opportunity; backing 20+ businesses with aggregate loans of c.€2bn and working with some of the world’s largest and most successful sponsors; continuing our programme of ESG linked loans - over the course of the last few years CVC have deployed €4bn of these across 30+ new investments, in 10+ countries, with 25 leading private equity sponsors.

Goldman Sachs Private Capital

Substantial deployment in support of European businesses: 

• In a year of muted M&A, the team reviewed over 300 opportunities and deployed €5.5bn in 29 large-cap deals including nine of the 10 largest European private credit financings. 

• Led the financing of Dechra, one of the year’s largest unitranche financings. Demonstrated the team’s value-add through the ability to commit in size and provide certainty of execution for the company’s financial sponsor in a complex, take-private transaction. 

  Significant product growth and innovation: 

• European Credit (semi-liquid, open-ended), our first dedicated evergreen European private credit fund, launched in October. At year-end, the fund was one of the largest in the market with €500m+ in equity commitments and cut a robust distribution to investors. 

• Mezzanine Partners VIII held a final close with a momentous fund size of $15bn. 

KKR Credit

KKR is a leading, large-scale direct lender in Europe. We believe that our origination platform is best in class, built upon our close relationships with top tier sponsors and advisors, alongside our incumbency as lender to hundreds of companies. We are focused on upper middle-market to large cap borrowers (with EBITDA €50 million+) where we seek scaled, proven businesses, with solid fundamentals, high revenue visibility and strong cash flow conversion. In 2023, our European Direct Lending team signed 17 deals with borrowers that had a weighted average EBITDA of over €180 million. We are a team of credit specialists with deep experience investing up and down the capital structure, and across cycles. Our underwriting process and our hands-on approach to portfolio management and monitoring are robust and consistent. We believe this allows us to be highly selective before executing with the speed and flexibility to be a trusted, deliverable lender. 

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