Antares Capital Advisers LLC, a subsidiary of Antares Capital LP (together with its parent companies, “Antares”) announced the final closing of its inaugural Senior Loan Fund (“SLF”).

The fund, which launched in December 2019, closed on September 14th with approximately $3 billion of asset purchasing power, exceeding its initial target of $1.5 billion. Capital was raised across a diversified set of institutional investors.

The investment objective of the SLF is to build a diverse portfolio of sponsor-backed senior secured loans to U.S. and Canadian borrowers. Investors in the fund are primarily public and private pensions, insurance companies, asset managers and banks located predominantly in the U.S., Canada, Asia and the Middle East.

“The closing of our inaugural fund is a significant milestone in continuing to diversify our investor base, and the ability to do so during the current market environment is a clear testament to the strength of the Antares brand,” said Vivek Mathew, senior managing director and head of asset management. “Investors appreciate that Antares’ market position allows us to be highly selective in the opportunities in which we invest. Also, Antares has implemented a variety of measures to demonstrate alignment of interests with our investors, and ultimately when markets turn, we have a track record of strong performance through market cycles.”

“COVID-19 has been a stress test for our asset class, and while the story is not fully written yet, it appears that middle market private debt will perform well,” said David Brackett, CEO of Antares. “As a result, we anticipate further growth in our asset management platform. As a firm we recently recognized the five-year anniversary of our partnership with CPPIB Credit Investments Inc. During this time we are proud to have continued to build upon our industry-leading platform targeting private equity-owned middle market companies.”

Ropes & Gray represented Antares Capital. The Ropes & Gray team was led by asset management partner Peter Laybourn and included tax partner Jim Brown, private capital transactions partner Patricia Lynch, asset management counsel Catherine Skulan, private capital transactions counsel Patricia Teixera, asset management associates Lindsay Pierce and Chidi Oteh, private capital transactions associate Arnav Prasad, tax associate Kathryn Seevers, and corporate associates Lauren Stewart and Laura Appelt.