Goldman Sachs Alternatives announced the final close of West Street Loan Partners V (“Loan Partners V” or the “Fund”), the latest in a series of flagship large-cap senior direct lending vehicles. The Fund closed on $13.1 billion of total capital including LP equity commitments, long-term asset financing and Goldman Sachs balance sheet commitment alongside The Fund.
The fundraise was completed significantly above target and is the largest Loan Partners fund raised since the inception of the strategy in 2008. The capital was raised from existing re-up investors, new investors and significant commitments from Goldman Sachs and its employees.
In addition to The Fund capital raised, Goldman Sachs Alternatives also announced it has closed on more than $7 billion in large-cap senior direct lending managed accounts and $550 million of co-investment vehicles alongside Loan Partners V, bringing total capital raised to more than $20 billion.
Institutional investors in the strategy include U.S. and international pension plans, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. Investors from Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, family offices and third-party wealth channels also made commitments. Loan Partners V will be the first fund in the series to make disclosures under Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
The fundraise comes amid a significant opportunity set in senior direct lending, driven by expected pick up in M&A activity as private equity dry powder is at an all-time high and sponsors seek to return capital to investors. This backdrop creates attractive opportunities for alternative direct lending sources that can provide size, structural flexibility and certainty of execution to borrowers. The Fund has already began investing and will continue to target high-quality, private equity-backed global businesses, leveraging the firm’s deep relationships with leading financial sponsors. To date, Loan Partners V has already invested or committed $4 billion across 37 portfolio companies.
The successful fundraise reflects the team’s strong track-record and unique platform longevity lending to leading private-equity backed businesses through various market environments, providing customized and flexible credit solutions to high-quality borrowers. Since 2008, Goldman Sachs has invested nearly $70 billion in large-cap senior direct lending globally.
The Fund is managed by the Private Credit business within Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with a global team of over 160 experienced credit investors drawing on the wider platform and resources of Goldman Sachs to source investments and add value to portfolio companies.
Greg Olafson, global head of Private Credit for Goldman Sachs Alternatives, said: “We are very appreciative of the support from existing and new investors. The successful fundraise is a testament to our team’s experience and track record navigating market cycles in private credit for nearly 30 years. Given our team’s unique sourcing capabilities and relationships with financial sponsors, and depth of investment experience through cycles, we are confident we can continue to directly originate attractive senior credit investments in high-quality companies to drive attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors.”
James Reynolds, global head of Direct Lending for Goldman Sachs Alternatives, said: “The market for senior direct lending continues to benefit from the growing demand from financial sponsors. While we expect the syndicated markets and private credit markets to continue to co-exist, we are seeing an increase in attractive opportunities for alternative lending sources that can provide size, structural flexibility and certainty of execution to borrowers. Our incumbent position as the sole or lead lender with hundreds of world-class businesses is another powerful sourcing component. With the close of our largest pool of capital dedicated to this opportunity, we are excited to continue the Loan Partners platform’s long history of providing creative financing solutions to the world’s leading private equity sponsors and owners of high-quality business across the US and Europe]
Stephanie Rader, global co-head of Alternatives Capital Formation for Goldman Sachs Alternatives, said: “As a solutions provider for our clients, some of the world’s most sophisticated investors, we are thrilled to enhance the structure and offering of Loan Partners V to significantly expand our investor base, while at the same time see continued support from existing investors. Senior direct lending has become an increasingly important allocation for both institutional and private wealth clients, and we believe our platform is uniquely positioned to source interesting investment opportunities and apply our time-tested rigorous diligence and underwriting processes to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns across cycles. We are grateful for our clients’ partnership and trust in our differentiated approach.”
Source: Goldman Sachs
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