Goldman Sachs raises $20 billion for private lending
Summary
The fund is targeting private-equity-backed global businesses.Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s alternative investment platform raised more than $20 billion for senior direct lending in its latest fund targeting private-equity backed global businesses.
The fund, West Street Loan Partners V, is the latest in a series of flagship large-cap senior direct lending vehicles for Goldman Sachs Alternatives, the asset manager said Wednesday. Loan Partners V is managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ private-credit business.
“We think the addressable market is growing," said James Reynolds, the asset manager’s global head of direct lending. “This is the largest dry powder there has been in private equity. So we think this is an excellent backdrop to create attractive opportunities."
Goldman Sachs has already invested $4 billion across 37 portfolio companies from the fund since the fundraise began.
Loan Partners V closed with $13.1 billion in total capital raised from existing and new investors, as well as commitments from Goldman Sachs and its employees. The asset manager also closed on more than $7 billion in large-cap senior direct lending managed accounts and $550 million of co-investment vehicles. Institutional investors include U.S. and international pension plans, insurance companies and sovereign-wealth funds.
The previous Loan Partners fund raised roughly $7 billion.
The fundraise comes amid a significant opportunity in senior direct lending, driven by an expected pickup in merger-and-acquisition activity as private-equity dry powder is at a record high and sponsors seek to return capital to investors, Goldman Sachs said.
“We’re starting to see, over the last few quarters, a pickup in M&A activity," Reynolds said. “And that’s across all our regions. That’s across North America, Western Europe as well as Asia."
This backdrop creates what Goldman Sachs sees as an attractive opportunity for alternative direct lending sources that can provide size, structural flexibility and certainty of execution to borrowers, according to a company news release.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ private-credit business was launched in 1996 and has invested $185 billion since its inception across investment strategies, including senior direct lending, mezzanine, hybrid capital and asset finance.
Write to Isaac Taylor at isaac.taylor@wsj.com
