London, 18 August 2023 – Hayfin Capital Management (“Hayfin”), a leading alternative asset management firm, today announces that it has attracted capital commitments in excess of its €6 billion target for Hayfin Direct Lending Fund IV. The successful fundraise comprised the commingled Fund IV, which has reached a final close, and certain related investment vehicles. Hayfin expects total available capital to be at or near the strategy’s hard cap of €7 billion by the end of the year.
Through its Direct Lending strategy, Hayfin originates, structures and invests in performing senior-secured loans, primarily to European middle-market and upper-middle-market companies, with an emphasis on downside protection. Investing throughout the credit cycle, Hayfin self-originates primary investment opportunities through its local sourcing teams across 12 offices globally and its sector-specialist teams, as well as opportunistically acquiring attractively priced senior loans in the secondary market. With banks reducing their risk appetite and new issuance levels in the leveraged finance market remaining weak since early 2022, Hayfin 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 c. €5 billion raised for the previous vintage of the Direct Lending strategy in 2020.
Tim Flynn, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Hayfin, commented: “We are delighted to have achieved this successful fundraise for the latest vintage of our Direct Lending strategy against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. 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. 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. We believe that we remain well positioned to meet borrowers’ demand for private credit solutions on terms that offer strong risk-adjusted returns to our clients.”
Hayfin was advised on the fundraise by Macfarlanes.
Since it was founded in 2009, Hayfin has invested over €35 billion of capital across more than 470 portfolio companies via its private credit strategies.