Muzinich & Co yesterday announced the first closing of its new fund Muzinich Pan-European Private Debt II reaching 210 million euros in commitments (see the press release here). The final closing of the first fund, at 706.5 millions, had  just been announced in February 2019 (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Like its predecessor, the new fund provides private capital to companies belonging to the lower-middle market, with the aim of financing acquisitions, expansions and transformations of the ownership structure. “We are one of the very few private debt operators in the lower-middle market with a pan-European offering”, commented Kirsten Bode, Co-Head of Private Debt, Pan-Europe, who added: “As the dynamics behind this asset class continue to change considerably, we believe that our team of skilled professionals and local presence across Europe give us a significant advantage in accessing such a large and diverse market, with the ‘aim to generate attractive returns for our investors”. Rafael Torres, Co-Head of Private Debt, Pan-Europe, added: “We believe that the local presence gives us a competitive advantage in identifying companies with a favorable credit profile, within the large EU private debt market”.
Muzinich launched in Italy in 2014 the first private debt fund Muzinich Italian Private Debt Fund (see here a previous article by BeBeez) which then reached an endowment of 286 million euros and which is now fully invested. In December 2019, Muzinich completed the final closing of its first Eltif (European Long Term Investment Fund), named Firstlight Middle Market Eltif, at 450 million euros, including financial leverage (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The Eltif was designed by Muzinich and built in partnership with Cordusio sim. The fund was then also distributed by other leading European operators, including Ersel.
In October 2018, the US asset manager had bought Springrowth sgr (see here a previous article by BeBeez), which had launched the Fondo di Credito Diversificato per le Imprese in 2017, a direct lending fund which then announced the final closing at 417 million euros at the beginning of last April (see here a previous article by BeBeez). On that occasion, it was announced that Springrowth is studying the short-term launch of a new rescue financing fund, aimed at providing short and medium-term liquidity and actively supporting the recovery processes of companies in crisis.
