Investment management services provider Fidelity International has discontinued its direct lending strategy in Europe just seven months after launching its Luxembourg-based European Direct Lending Fund.
A PitchBook report cites unnamed sources in confirming that the team that was assembled to develop the strategy had since been disbanded, accompanied by the departure of Andrew McCaffery, co-CIO for fixed income, multi-asset and private assets.
In the interim, Andrew Wells, president of Fidelity Canada, will take on McCaffery’s role, according to Alternative Credit Investor.
EDLF was launched last October with a loan to Dutch dental services company Clinias Dental Group. The fund focused on providing senior secured loans to middle market companies with EBITDA of around €5m to €30m.
Speaking to Alternative Credit Investor, a Fidelity spokesperson emphasised that the firm remained committed to private assets, adding that access to private markets was “an important consideration and component of a client’s overall investment strategy” and that the aim was to provide this “either through our own investment capabilities or providing access to those of third parties”.
Financial institutions including Deutsche Bank, Rabobank, Societe Generale and SMBC have launched direct lending strategies to take advantage of the surge in the private credit market.
