Barings launches two new APAC Private Credit Funds totalling over A$690 million
Justin Hooley
Barings, one of the world’s leading investment managers, has announced the launch of two APAC private credit funds – Barings Australian Private Credit Fund and Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A – with an aggregate amount of over A$690 million.
The Barings Australian Private Credit Fund is an open-ended private credit solution that leverages Barings’ established capabilities in Australia and New Zealand. It aims to provide attractive and resilient potential returns primarily through current income and secondarily through capital appreciation by investing in directly originated loans to private middle-market companies in Australia and New Zealand.
This Fund is tailored to institutional and wholesale investors in Australia who are in search of a robust Australian private credit allocation that provides immediate exposure to the asset class with an attractive yield potential[2]. The Fund’s launch with seed assets and strong deployment activity is one of the key differentiators in the current market, where transaction flow has been subdued. An established global investment multi-manager has committed over A$230 million in this perpetual vehicle as a seed investor.
“We believe that the Australian private credit market is attractive due to its stable economic and legal backdrop, and it has significant potential for further growth in the years ahead,” said Justin Hooley, Managing Director in Barings’ Asia Pacific Private Finance Group. “We continue to identify numerous opportunities in the Australian private credit market as a result of our market position and the opportunities that derive from our current portfolio, despite the fact that there has been a decrease in M&A activity. As one of the most active lenders in the region with over 13 years of track record and a diversified portfolio, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the compelling opportunity.”
In addition to the Barings Australian Private Credit Fund, Barings has also completed the first close of Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A exceeding A$460 million. This closed-end fund was anchored by a large Asian institutional investor.
“The Asia Pacific private credit market is rapidly evolving into an appealing opportunity for investors,” said Shane Forster, APAC Head of Investment Management and Managing Director in Barings’ Asia Pacific Private Finance Group. “It exhibits comparable attributes to private credit in North America and Europe, including exposure to high-quality borrowers, but with less competition for lending opportunities, geographical diversification and exposure to expanding developed economies such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.”
Barings’ Global Private Finance team has been investing in private credit markets for over 30 years and has invested in over 1,000 platform companies across multiple credit and economic cycles. Barings’ APAC private credit platform has been an active lender in the region since 2011. The team focuses on the developed economies of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong and has successfully deployed over A$5.8 billion1.
“As we continue to expand our Global Private Finance platform, we see tremendous opportunity to further deepen our capabilities in APAC, a region in which we have been an active direct lender in for well over a decade. We are pleased to see this strong capital raise and ongoing deployment into attractive opportunities, which demonstrates the increasing pace of our global momentum” said Bryan High, Head of Barings’ Global Private Finance Group.
In Australia, Barings Australian Private Credit Fund and Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A are only available to wholesale and institutional clients.
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