FINANCE: Investment manager ICG-Longbow has launched a £400m senior debt club.
The real estate debt specialist has put together a platform comprising four discretionary UK separate account mandates that will co-invest in senior loans.
It is understood that the £150m BBC pension fund mandate that the firm recently secured, as revealed by Estates Gazette, is part of this platform.
The remaining £250m has been secured from two other UK pension funds and a fourth UK investor, all of which have contributed more than £50m to the platform.
The club will invest in newly originated senior loans of up to £75m with a maximum 65% LTV supported by a diverse portfolio of regional and London assets.
It will consider only bilateral loans with terms of between five to ten years, which will be split pro rata between the investors.
The “highly defensive” product aims to offer investors a spread more than 200 bps higher than equivalent corporate bonds.
ICG-Longbow founder Martin Wheeler said: “With the senior debt product we are providing investors with what they want – low risk but a higher yield than you can get in the corporate bond market.”
The platform, which closed last month, already has a number of deals in the pipeline.
The senior debt platform will be run by former HBOS and UniCredit banker Trevor Holmes, who joined as a partner last year.
Earlier this year the company, run by Martin Wheeler and Kevin Cooper, poached Deutsche Pfandbriefbank originator Carrie Hartle to work alongside Holmes in preparation for the senior debt platform expansion.
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
