The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.

Blackstone
US investments group Blackstone has partnered with Finland’s S-Bank to provide individual investors in Finland the opportunity to invest in private markets.

The combination will widen access to a private credit market in Europe which has traditionally been confined to institutional investors with high investment minimums and a requirement to lock up capital for long periods.

The move by Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions into what it sees as under-exploited European markets follows agreements with BNP Paribas earlier this year, and ING last year. (In those cases, Blackstone brought its European private credit investment platform to qualified private investors in France and the Netherlands, respectively.)

S-Bank's (aka S-Pankki) private credit fund invests in loans in unlisted companies, mainly in Europe. The S-Pankki European fund (S-Pankki ECRED) is a feeder fund whose target fund is Blackstone European Private Credit Fund SICAV. 

The target fund Blackstone European Private Credit Fund SICAV, which was launched in October 2022, had €581 million ($634 million) in January. The investments are secured senior loans.

(The fund is not intended for investors in the US.)

Cheyne Capital, Abu Dhabi
Cheyne Capital has secured a commitment from a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for the ninth vintage of the Cheyne Real Estate Credit Holdings (CRECH) programme.

The programme, which is also known as the Capital Solutions strategy, will be added to earlier investments to bring ADIA’s subsidiary’s total commitment to the Capital Solutions strategy to £650 million ($830.8 million).

The strategy continues CRECH’s focus on senior lending against European real estate. In addition, it provides solutions across the capital structure, including subordinated debt, hybrid credit and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

CRECH’s recent deals include the structuring of a £780 million loan alongside JP Morgan to Quintain for the refinancing of Wembley Park, London. Other recent deals include a £318 million loan to Goldman Sachs-backed Riverstone for two later living developments in London, £229 million to Stanhope for the transformation and extension of the iconic 76 Southbank in London into a low-carbon office, €250 million to Bain Capital and Borio Mangiarotti to deliver 600 new homes in Milan and over €200 million to the Beaumier hotel group with lifestyle hotels across France, Switzerland and Spain.