Russell Investments has announced the launch of a new evergreen fund, designed to provide professional investors with exposure to the growing opportunities across global private credit markets.
The firm writes that the Russell Investments Global Private Credit Fund will employ a multi-manager approach, utilising Russell Investments’ 50 years’ of private markets research expertise and open architecture structure to invest in selected top-ranked managers across the full private credit spectrum.
Via this approach, the firm writes that it will provide its clients with a single point of access to a highly diversified range of private credit exposures. This will include North American and European asset-backed and direct lending allocations as well as special situations, real estate debt, credit risk transfers and royalty income opportunities on a more tactical basis.
Alongside the significant diversification delivered by the Luxembourg-domiciled Fund’s portfolio, investors are also expected to benefit from its evergreen structure, which may offer quarterly liquidity up to 5 per cent of NAV after the investment period.
The Fund starts with a complementary mix of seven specialist portfolios managed by underlying General Partners (GP) strategically determined through the firm’s rigorous, ongoing research process of more than 1,000 private credit products, the firm says, adding: “As the Fund grows, it will continue to diversify”.
It will seek to deliver an annualised net return of 8 per cent over a market cycle and will be available to professional investors based in the UK.
The firm writes that the launch comes at a time of significant appetite for private markets exposure, with inflows of approximately USD200 billion between January 2021 and January 2024. “This highly attractive environment has brought a more diverse range of investors into the asset class, encouraging improvements in the quality and liquidity of GP vehicles, and the development of more innovative solutions to maximise the opportunities available from this asset class”.
Commenting on the launch, Keith Brakebill, Senior Portfolio Manager, Private Credit at Russell Investments, says: “Private credit has been an asset class ‘in vogue’ for some time, with investors keen to access the improved returns and lower drawdowns on offer relative to those available via public markets. However, investors have historically been limited by their ability to access the asset class effectively and have had to do so by focusing on specific sub-segments rather than via a broad exposure. In launching our evergreen Russell Investments Global Private Credit Fund, we are able to offer a compelling solution to investor needs, allowing clients to access a diversified portfolio of private credit assets in a single investment which can generate income and long-term capital appreciation.”
Jim Leggate, Head of EMEA at Russell Investments, says: “This launch reflects our continued commitment to provide all clients across the institutional and wealth management space with institutional-quality solutions to meet their long-term goals. There are clear advantages for investors to ensure they have adequate exposure to private credit assets which can be employed as a return enhancer, risk reducer or a combination of the two depending on their individual requirements. Our scale and research capabilities leave us well positioned to provide diversified exposure to best-of-breed managers within this evergreen structure that aligns with investors’ liquidity requirements.”
