Blackstone raises $22bn for first series of US direct lending fund

Blackstone has closed the first series of its evergreen institutional US direct lending fund with $22bn (£17bn) raised, comfortably beating its $10bn target.

The final close of the Blackstone Senior Direct Lending Fund brings the asset manager’s global direct lending platform to over $123bn in assets under management as of the third quarter.

Read more: Blackstone reports record AUM as fund value swells

“This capital raise reflects our long-term strength in private credit, our global reach across corporates and sponsor-led transactions, and our ability to add value to the companies with which we partner,” said Brad Marshall, global head of private credit strategies at Blackstone Credit & Insurance (BXCI), the merged division created last year.

“We believe our scale and breadth of solutions position us extremely well during what we expect to be an active transaction environment with declining rates.”

Read more: Blackstone sees $30tn private credit opportunity

BXCI deployed or committed $40bn in direct lending during the third quarter, more than double the volume across the whole of 2023.

This included participation in deals such as the $7.5bn financing facility for AI business CoreWeave and the $2.7bn facility for website-building platform Squarespace.

“Our global platform gives us strength in both the traditional middle-market and growing opportunity set for larger deals available to few others,” added Gilles Dellaert, global head of BXCI. “Investors and borrowers continue to recognize the benefits that private capital can provide in direct lending and across the broader credit markets.”

Read more: Blackstone boss cites 0.3pc default rate on private credit