Direct-lending funds moving in with US$50b where banks fear to tread

London

AS LENDERS watch Italy lurch through a banking crisis with dismay, Symon Drake-Brockman at Pemberton Capital Advisors LLP is readying his chequebook.

The London fund, along with a unit of Bain Capital LP, is among those lining up US$50 billion for leveraged borrowers in Europe, including some shunned by traditional lenders, according to estimates by Deloitte LLP. As European Central Bank limits and the Italian upheaval curb risk appetite, direct-lending funds are seeking a bigger chunk of a market which grew by 37 per cent last year to 145 billion euros (S$220 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.