Press release | 27 Feb 2024

Berenberg expands existing debt fund strategy with a further offering for conservative corporate financing

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Hamburg/Frankfurt am Main. Berenberg is expanding its successful debt fund strategies with a new closed-end multi-investor fund. The fund is aimed at professional and semi-professional investors and is being launched by Germany's oldest private bank together with Universal-Investment Luxembourg as alternative investment fund manager (AIFM).

Berenberg's new fund enables investors to make diversified investments in in senior and super-senior secured transaction financing from a mid-single-digit million amount and is intended to continue the successful history of the conservatively positioned strategy. "The new vehicle complements a series of debt funds that have been launched since 2016 for professional and semi-professional investors such as insurance companies and pension funds. In addition, savings banks and cooperative debt institutions are now also investing in our debt funds to diversify their portfolios," says Lars Hagemann, Head of Structured Finance at Berenberg. "The comprehensive connection to the relevant reporting interfaces and support in the subscription process also make it easier for these highly regulated investors to access an attractive asset class."

"All investors benefit from a careful selection of the companies to be financed as well as from low leverage ratios, which has enabled Berenberg's corporate direct lending strategy to prove itself even in a market environment characterised by many crises," Hagemann continues.

Sofia Harrschar, Head of Alternative Investments at Universal Investment, adds: "Alternative investments such as debt funds have established themselves as a fixed component in the allocation of many institutional portfolios. Even in the past few quarters, which have been very challenging for investors, the asset class has often been able to make a positive contribution to portfolios, particularly in the area of debt financing. Investors are also benefiting from the rise in interest rates."

About Berenberg

Berenberg was founded in 1590 and is today one of Europe's leading private banks with its Wealth and Asset Management, Investment Bank and Corporate Banking divisions. The Hamburg-based bank is managed by personally liable partners and has a strong presence in the financial centres of Frankfurt, London and New York.


About Universal Investment

The Universal Investment Group is one of the leading European fund service platforms and Super ManCos with around 992 billion euros in assets under management, around 2,000 fund and investment mandates and more than 1,700 employees in Frankfurt am Main, Luxembourg, Dublin, London, Paris, Stockholm, Hamburg and Krakow. Founded in 1968, the company is an independent platform offering fund initiators and institutional investors structuring and administration solutions as well as risk management for securities, property and alternative investments. The company is a signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment and a member of Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen e. V. (as of December 2023)

Timo Lüllau-Mortensen
Head of Communications
Phone +49 69 91 30 90-515
Famke Lohmann
Communications
Phone +49 40 350 60-2287

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