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Crestline Investors, Inc., a global alternative investment manager, has launched the Crestline Lending Solutions Fund (CLSF), a perpetual private business development company (BDC) designed to leverage the firm’s longstanding expertise in private credit.
The new vehicle aims to deliver steady income and money made above the norm through direct lending in the core and lower middle market, with tactical allocations to other private credit opportunities.
The fund represents Crestline’s first BDC and commingled perpetual vehicle, marking what the firm calls a major evolution in how it serves a broader investor base.
“We recognize the importance of meeting investors where they are, regardless of channel. This will continue to be a point of focus in this next phase of growth,” said Tom Bavin, co-head of Crestline’s Client Partnership Group, in a press release.
Crestline executives say CLSF is designed to stand apart from larger perpetual BDCs, whose portfolios often overlap significantly. “We believe our focus on the lower and core middle market, as well as tactical allocations to other forms of private credit, can provide investors with either an attractive alternative or complement to their existing perpetual BDC holdings,” said Chris Semple, co-head of U.S. Corporate Credit and CEO of CLSF.
The structure allows the fund to draw investor capital gradually, which Crestline believes supports consistency in strategy and execution. “We’d rather take a measured pace to growth to enhance our ability to deliver alpha to our investors,” Semple said.
CLSF will primarily invest alongside Crestline’s direct lending strategy, which provides customized financing solutions to sponsor- and nonsponsor-backed companies. Over the past year, that strategy has committed $1.9 billion across 46 transactions.
Crestline’s approach to alpha generation was recently recognized by PitchBook, which named the firm one of five Gold Badge winners in its 2024 Annual Global Manager Performance Score for excellence in direct lending performance.
Founded in 1997, Crestline Investors manages approximately $18 billion in credit assets across its capital solutions, direct lending, and portfolio finance platforms, with offices in Fort Worth, London, New York, Tokyo, and Toronto.