The investment arm of Saudi Awwal Bank is raising a private credit fund focused on MENA, while PE giant Blackstone is said to be considering a private credit secondaries strategy.
Saudi’s SAB Invest raising private credit fund
SAB Invest, the investment arm of Saudi Awwal Bank, is planning to raise up to 1 billion riyals ($266 million) for a private credit fund focused on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The firm aims to raise the said amount for the Shariah-compliant fund, SAB Invest MENA Private Credit Strategy, over the next six to 12 months.
The vehicle has already secured about $100 million from wealth managers and family offices, SAB Invest’s chief investment officer Osama Alowedi was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
The fund will allocate capital to listed and unlisted sukuk issued by mid-sized and smaller companies, venture debt for high-growth tech firms, structured corporate debt, and infrastructure financing. At least 60% of the capital will be deployed in Saudi Arabia.
The launch aligns with Riyadh’s push to deepen capital markets and attract foreign funding for its economic transformation.
Blackstone said to consider private credit secondaries strategy
Private equity major Blackstone is considering the creation of a new fund that will invest in secondaries of private credit assets, Bloomberg reported, quoting unnamed sources.
The report said the new vehicle would mark a shift from Blackstone’s current strategy of accessing the market through its flagship private equity funds.
The initiative would be overseen by Strategic Partners, the firm’s secondaries platform that currently manages stakes across private equity, real estate, and infrastructure. Blackstone has not commented on the report yet.
The firm gathered over $4.4 billion in the initial close of its third corporate private equity fund for the Asia Pacific region, according to its first-quarter call with analysts in April.
The world’s largest alternative asset manager is targeting “a substantially larger size than the prior $6 billion vintage” for Blackstone Capital Partners Asia III, according to president Jon Gray.
