Hayfin Capital Management, the alternative asset management firm majority owned by British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, has exceeded its €6bn target for Hayfin Direct Lending Fund IV.

The fundraise comprises the commingled Fund IV, which has reached a final close, and certain related investment vehicles. Hayfin said it expects total available capital to be at or near the strategy’s hard cap of €7bn by the end of the year.

Hayfin said that it believes Fund IV is “well-positioned to meet substantial demand for private credit solutions and to continue to invest in high-quality borrowers on attractive terms”.

This latest fundraise attracted capital commitments from a broad range of institutional investors globally, including both new and existing LPs, comprising public and private pension funds, financial institutions, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, endowments, consultants and family offices.

It represents Hayfin’s record fundraise for its flagship private credit strategy and the firm’s largest capital raise to date, exceeding the circa €5bn raised for the previous vintage of the Direct Lending strategy in 2020.

Tim Flynn, chief executive officer and co-founder of Hayfin, said: “Our investors have signalled their strong belief in our well-resourced and specialist team, our diverse origination model and our robust track record of disciplined lending and capital preservation, and we are grateful for their continued trust.”

Hayfin was founded in 2009, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, which saw traditional banks’ appetite for corporate lending recede sharply, Flynn noted.

“The recent market dislocation and the sluggish recovery of the leveraged finance market presents another attractive environment for Hayfin to deploy capital into both mid-market and upper-mid-market financings,” he added.

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