Allianz Global Investors has raised €450m for its Asia Pacific private credit fund at first close.
The strategy, targeting €650m in total, is expected to hold its final closing by the end of this year. The fund has attracted investment from European institutional investors, who are investing alongside insurance group Allianz.
The Allianz Asia Pacific Secured Lending fund focuses on businesses looking to capitalise on rising underlying fundamental demand in Asia. It invests in senior secured, senior unsecured, second lien and subordinated debt.
It targets businesses located across Asia Pacific, excluding China, that have shown resilience across business cycles, such as telecom towers, pharmaceuticals or data centres, or those that are expected to have a sharp recovery after a period of market stress, such as education and business software.
‘The popularity of private debt has increased significantly in the last decade and so far it has coped quite well with the most recent series of market volatility. Private debt will continue to play a crucial role in the portfolios of institutional investors and is an important pillar of AllianzGI’s private markets offering. In particular, we see huge growth potential for Asian private credit markets, presenting compelling opportunities for our institutional clients,’ said Emmanuel Deblanc, global head of private markets at AllianzGI.
The fund is run by AllianzGI’s Asia private credit team, which is led by Sumit Bhandari. To date, the team has deployed €470m in secured lending financing across the region.
‘We have established a sizeable private credit business across Asia Pacific and our ability to lend across the capital structure allows us to act as a one-stop shop for borrowers looking for customised financing solutions. Despite the current geopolitical environment, we see the Asian performing private credit market as highly attractive from a risk/reward perspective,’ Bhandari said.
Previously, Citywire reported that AllianzGI had registered 17 funds in Luxembourg over the last year, including an Asia Pacific private credit fund, as part of a push into the private markets.
In an interview, Emmanuel Deblanc, head of private markets at the firm, said it would be opening up existing strategies to outside investors and would be particularly looking to expand its private credit capabilities.
At the start of the year, the firm held a first close for the Allianz Resilient Opportunistic Credit fund, which is targeting around €750m and will have its final close later this year.
Last year, the firm raised €500m for its Global Private Debt fund, which is targeting around €1.5bn in total. This strategy has a target return of 6-9{b930f8fc61da1f29cba34a8cbe30670691f63878f9c98a2d7d5d6527da1fb8f3}.
AllianzGI manages around €93bn in private market assets in total.
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