Tennenbaum holds second close on more than $1 bln

Tennenbaum Capital Partners recently held a second close on its eighth direct-lending fund to bring its total capital raised to just north of $1 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the fundraise.

The firm will likely hold a final close this summer.

Tennenbaum has been raising TCP Direct Lending Fund VIII since at least last summer, according to SEC filings. The firm has already called $142 million and taken positions in 17 investments, the source said.

Buyouts previously reported Tennenbaum had attracted around $1 billion of LP demand for the fund last year. A Tennenbaum spokesperson declined to comment.

Tennenbaum invests in performing credit and special situations in North American mid-market companies. The firm has invested in more than $18 billion in 500 portfolio companies since its inception in 1999.

Its direct-lending business provides first- and second-lien debt to support leveraged buyouts, growth equity investments, acquisitions and refinancings, its website says. Tennenbaum’s special-situations strategy focuses on secondary-market acquisitions of loans, bonds and other debt-like instruments in companies undergoing distress or change.

The firm also has a publicly traded business-development company, TCP Capital Corp, which trades on the Nasdaq.

Action Item: For more information about Tennenbaum: tennenbaumcapital.com/

A snow-encrusted pine-tree branch tip is seen near Norden, California, on Dec. 5, 2015. Photo courtesy Reuters/Max Whittaker