BlackRock has held a final close for its flagship opportunistic credit fund, Global Credit Opportunities (GCO) with $2 billion in assets under management. The fund’s global mandate gives it flexibility to invest in corporate credit assets across geographies and industries, and seek value throughout the credit cycle.
GCO’s successful fundraising builds on BlackRock’s broader success in establishing a global private credit franchise. In addition to opportunistic credit, over the last few years BlackRock has expanded its private credit capabilities in Asian private credit, special situations, and U.S. and European middle market credit, including the acquisition of Tennenbaum Capital Partners in 2018. With a growing team of over 210 investment professionals, BlackRock’s Global Credit platform manages $100 billion in total client assets across a full range of credit capabilities. Over the last two years, BlackRock has raised over $5 billion in new client commitments for private credit strategies.
Seeking to generate income and capital growth for clients by targeting less liquid opportunistic, stressed and special situations investments, GCO will benefit from BlackRock’s global platform, sourcing capabilities and long-term track record of innovation. The dedicated investment team, led by David Trucano, possesses over 80 years of combined credit investment experience, including providing capital solutions in complex situations. Qualifying investors will also have the right to potentially co-invest alongside the fund on select deals.
“We’re pleased to reach this important milestone for our GCO fund,” said Jim Keenan, CIO and global co-head of credit. “The interest we’ve seen from investors around the world is a testament to the attractive value proposition that the fund offers and its mandate to deliver the value and diversification that our clients need no matter where we are in the credit cycle. Leveraging the sourcing capabilities of BlackRock’s global platform and our team’s strong relationships with partners around the world, we’ve already started putting significant capital to work for our clients.”
According to BlackRock’s 2019 Global Institutional Rebalancing Survey, 56 percent of global respondents planned to increase their allocations to private credit. As investors increasingly look for a higher-yielding alternative to traditional fixed income allocations, the firm is committed to providing clients with the private credit solutions that meet their investment objectives across a range of risks, liquidity and geographies.
“Investors looking for attractive risk-adjusted returns and portfolio diversification are increasingly looking to credit, where scale and expertise can help generate alpha,” said Tim O’Hara, global co-head of credit. “Building out our opportunistic credit strategy to take advantage of secular trends and cyclical dislocations in the credit markets is a natural evolution of our platform as we continue to bolster a credit business that can deliver for clients across risk spectrums and market cycles.”
