British Columbia Investment Management (BCI), an institutional investor in Canada, completed a $200 million anchor investment in the newly launched, Europe-focused, Arini Direct Lending Fund as part of the recently announced alliance between Arini Capital Management and Lazard, to provide bespoke direct lending solutions to mid-market companies across Europe. In addition, BCI plans to invest, at its discretion, an additional $400+ million as a co-investor in future European direct lending opportunities.
“Our anchor investment in the fund positions us as a key partner in this differentiated private credit platform, created through the alliance between Arini Capital Management and Lazard, Inc., supporting our strategy to geographically diversify BCI’s Partnership Portfolio. The opportunity to co-invest with Arini in other exclusive lending opportunities will also provide BCI with more targeted exposure to various segments of the European market,” Daniel Garant, executive vice president and global head, public markets at BCI, said. “This initiative not only provides us access to Europe’s vibrant private credit sector, but also positions us well to help deliver high-quality, risk-adjusted returns for our clients, while fostering the growth of dynamic mid-market businesses.”
The fund will focus on a diversified mix of senior and junior debt, targeting resilient, risk-adjusted performance. Co-investment opportunities for BCI are expected to arise when facility sizes are too large for the fund based on portfolio concentration limits.
