THL Credit Advisors LLC, an alternative credit manager, announced that it has closed THL Credit Lake Shore CLO I at $411 million (Lake Shore I). The offering represents THL Credit’s first collateralized loan obligation (CLO) that includes middle market leveraged loans.

With the completion of this deal, THL Credit and its affiliates now manage 24 CLOs totaling approximately $13 billion in assets. The firm is one of the 15 largest issuers of CLOs in the country.

“Middle market businesses drive a significant portion of U.S. economic activity, and access to financing is essential to their growth,” said Chris Flynn, CEO of THL Credit. “Our origination efforts generate attractive opportunities in the middle market and the expansion of this program will allow us to both maintain more of what we create and participate in reciprocal deal flow from other lenders.”

The Lake Shore middle market CLO product creates alignment between THL Credit’s two core focus areas – direct lending and tradable credit investments – and presents the Company with an opportunity to capitalize on both its origination capabilities and expertise in the CLO space.

“THL Credit has been originating middle market loans for the past 10 years and we find the risk adjusted returns compelling for our dedicated direct lending funds.  Thus the opportunity to use the middle market CLOs to expand the product suite to include this asset class makes tremendous sense,” said Michael A. Herzig, Managing Director of THL Credit. “Lake Shore I and its successors will enable us to provide both direct lending and club middle market loans to our global CLO investor base.”