Fund manager BlueBay Asset Management is collaborating with Barclays bank to offer bespoke loans to medium-sized business in the UK.
Barclays is partnering with BlueBay’s Direct Lending Fund to make single “unitranche” loans of up to £120 million (€145 billion) to finance UK mid-market companies that are backed by financial sponsors.
Barclays could also provide other banking services.
The firms says the collaboration is a significant development in the UK loan market and involves combining capital from Barclays and the fund to achieve a single term loan, at a single rate of interest, with common terms and effectively one lender or counterparty.
Benefits of this facility include: loans that are quicker to deploy than a traditional deal involving several banks; tailored loans to meet specific requirements of a business, including committed acquisition or capital expenditure facilities to facilitate growth plans; and the day-to-day banking services of a UK clearer.
Karl Nolson, managing director and head of debt finance at Barclays, says: “Lending to this segment of UK plc is at the core of what we do, and with unitranche financing we will be able to provide additional support towards economic growth.”
BlueBay is a fixed income specialist based in London with US$57.5 billion (€42.3 billion) of assets under management. It is owned by Royal Bank of Canada.
Anthony Fobel is the head of private lending strategies at the firm.
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