JSM Financial: U.S. investment firm HarbourVest Partners raises mid-market loan fund.

May 25, 2010 - PRLog -- One of the world’s largest private equity investment management firms, HarbourVest Partners has announced that it has secured funding for a new investment company aimed at investing in European senior secured loans of private equity-backed mid-market companies, JSM Financial was informed.

The new addition, named HarbourVest Senior Loans Europe is to invest in primary and secondary loans issued by between 20 and 30 firms with an enterprise value of up to $1.2 billion.

JSM believes that the firm announced that it intended to launch the fund only last month and has raised $144 million by placing shares with UK institutional investors.

The global economic crisis saw credit to large and small private equity-backed firms severely cut back as buyers such as banks and institutional investors went into preservation mode but recent months have shown positive indications of a comeback for larger companies but less so for small and medium sized firms.

"Fund raising is difficult in this kind of economic climate. But this shows that if have an articulate and focused strategy, you can get funded," JSM Financial believes the MD at HarbourVest Partners was recently quoted as saying.


HarbourVest said that it was the first firm to list a fund aimed specifically at investing in loans which will benefit from first lien security over the assets of the borrower and which will be bought from motivated or distressed sellers at a discount to their par value or which would take the form of new loans, but it expected more to follow soon.

"Our strategy will be to partner with banks where those banks are lending to private equity-backed companies in the primary space," JSM Financial believes the managing director added.

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