Bain Capital, a global private investment firm, announced a joint venture with bookrunner SMBC to establish a new European loan platform providing up to € 1.5 billion in senior secured credit to corporate borrowers across Europe and the UK. The platform is structured as a co-governed credit vehicle, combining SMBC’s pan-European “leveraged finance origination and structuring expertise with Bain Capital’s underwriting and asset management capabilities.”
Leveraging SMBC’s position as an arranger of leveraged finance transactions, the platform benefits from “access to primary deal flow in the syndicated loan market.”
The initiative brings together Bain Capital’s Special Situations and Credit businesses and reflects the firm’s focus “on scalable, cycle-aware capital solutions.”
Angelo Rufino, a Partner and Head of Bain Capital Corporate Special Situations in Europe said that this highlights their ability “to engineer large-scale and innovative platforms with leading global partners and to underwrite complex capital structures that perform across market cycles.”
The platform will target financing for sponsor-backed European companies across a diversified set of industries, with “a focus on opportunities in the broadly syndicated loan (BSL) market.”
Designed to offer flexibility, strong governance, and institutional-grade underwriting discipline, the joint venture “reflects the evolving landscape of private credit in Europe.”
Established back in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s private investment firms.
They are committed to creating lasting impact “for their investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which they live.”
Their global platform invests across “five focus areas: Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit & Capital Markets, and Real Assets.”
In these focus areas, they aim to “bring sector expertise and wide-ranging capabilities.”
They have 24 offices on four continents, “more than 1,850 employees, and approximately $205 billion in assets under management.”
As mentioned in the announcement, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is a global financial institution headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
With a presence in more than 40 countries, SMBC provides a suite of financial services, including “corporate banking, investment banking, and asset management.”
SMBC reportedly has one of the largest Leverage Finance platforms in the European market with more than 100 investment professionals “across 4 offices and a presence across the syndicated and private credit markets.”
SMBC acted as Bookrunner on over “60 leveraged loan transactions in 2024.”
