Ares, Eurazeo and Goldman Sachs have been the most important European direct lenders within the first half of 2024, in line with Reorg’s newest rankings knowledge.
Ares held onto the highest spot, finishing 36 offers and holding a seven per cent share of the market.
Eurazeo retained its second place with 26 offers and a 5.1 per cent market share.
Goldman Sachs Non-public Credit score was a brand new entrant to the highest three, finishing 25 offers over the interval and holding a 4.9 per cent share of the market.
Learn extra: AllianceBernstein: Direct lending returns will keep excessive regardless of base charge cuts
Goldman Sachs Non-public Credit score was probably the most energetic lender for services above €250m (£210m), finishing 23 offers within the first half of 2024. Ares got here in second with 14 offers, whereas Apollo ranked third with 11 offers.
Eurazeo narrowly overtook Ares for offers under €250m, with 23 offers versus Ares’ 22 offers. Barings Non-public Debt retained third place with 16 offers.
Learn extra: Goldman Sachs: Buyers are under-allocated to personal credit score
General European direct lending exercise for the primary half of 2024 totalled 358 offers, up from 326 offers within the first half of 2023. Decrease mid-market offers continued to make up the lion’s share of the market (75.1 per cent).
The second quarter of 2024 noticed the best quarterly quantity of offers in 18 months – with 211 transactions made – up from 147 offers within the first quarter of the yr.
There have been indicators of a restoration within the M&A market as lenders’ urge for food for bigger offers has elevated, with buy-outs exceeding bolt-on acquisitions, at 34.6 per cent versus 33.8 per cent.
Refinancings remained the third hottest use of financing, accounting for 16.5 per cent, adopted by capex/development at 10.1 per cent.
Direct lending makes up the vast majority of the non-public credit score sector, however corporations are dealing with growing competitors from banks on the higher finish of the market.
AllianceBernstein’s head of personal options Matthew Bass lately stated that buyers ought to contemplate alternatives exterior of direct lending reminiscent of asset-based finance to diversify their non-public credit score portfolios.
