Sector developments and company hires

Private credit fund formed
FrontWell Capital Partners has launched with committed seed capital of more than US$350m from a group of international investors. Headquartered in Toronto, the firm aims to provide transitionary senior debt financing - including asset-based and cashflow loans - to middle-market companies in the US and Canada.

FrontWell is led by founder and ceo Patrick Dalton, who previously served as founder and ceo of Gordon Brothers Finance Company and managed several businesses as senior partner of Apollo Global Management’s credit platform. John Ho is a founder and cfo of the firm, having previously been cfo of Callidus Capital Corp and prior to that holding senior roles in the Brookfield Asset Management family of operating companies.

In other news…

Mid-market origination platform launched
Barings has formed Barings Mubadala Enterprise (BME), an evergreen origination platform seeking to provide financing solutions to European middle-market businesses. BME and its capital partners aim to provide US$3.5bn in financing over the next 18 months to help meet growing corporate demand for flexible capital solutions in Europe, focusing particularly on opportunities in the UK, France, Benelux and the Nordics. The partnership is anchored by Mubadala Investment Company and will invest alongside MassMutual and Barings' capital.

Repository application submitted
European DataWarehouse (EDW) has submitted an application to become a Securitisation Repository, registered and supervised by ESMA. Since the platform was initially launched, EDW has made a number of enhancements to reflect the latest template changes and requirements from ESMA. EDW has collected loan-level data and relevant documentation for nearly 1,600 transactions since inception.

Third close for NPL fund
Arrow Global Group has held a third close of its inaugural closed-end fund Arrow Credit Opportunities SCSp, raising an additional €300m of capital commitments, bringing total capital commitments to €1.5bn. This latest raise includes €75m from Arrow, which has committed to invest capital amounting to 25% of the total commitments to the fund alongside other investors.

The third close has drawn strong interest from a diverse range of global investors, with the fund now including commitments from the US, Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Nordics and Asia. Arrow intends to deploy the fund to capitalise on opportunities in the NPL market, which have been heightened by the economic dislocation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.