Pictet Asset Management has announced the first closing of its European Direct Lending fund meeting the target of €200 million.
The newly launched Article 8 fund focuses on lending to European lower mid-market private companies. The approach is to invest in mature businesses that have reached a crucial stage in their evolution and provide capital to allow them to reach the next milestone in their lifecycle, said the asset manager.
The fund offers investors access to “an asset class with stable yet strong underlying yields within an uncertain macro environment”.
The fund has closed two transactions within the direct lending strategy. In September, Pictet European Direct Lending I provided debt financing to support the acquisition of French software company Liciel Environnement by Enersweet and, in August, growth financing to MLase AG, a German manufacturing business.
Andreas Klein, head of private debt at Pictet Asset Management, commented: “Despite a challenging fundraising environment, investors are increasingly valuing the benefit of exposure into niche strategies to diversify underlying credit exposure and access premium returns.”
Article 8 funds are defined by the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation as “a fund which promotes, among other characteristics, environmental or social characteristics, or a combination of those characteristics, provided that the companies in which the investments are made follow good governance practices.”
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