Russell Investments has announced the launch of its new evergreen fund, aimed at providing investors with exposure to the “growing opportunities” across global private credit markets.

The Russell Investments Global Private Credit Fund will look to employ a multi-manager approach, utilising Russell Investments’ private markets research capabilities and open architecture structure to invest in selected top-ranked managers across the full private credit spectrum.

Through this approach, the firm will aim to provide its clients with a single point of access to a highly diversified range of private credit exposures.

This will include North American and European asset-backed and direct lending allocations, as well as special situations, real estate debt, credit risk transfers, and royalty income opportunities on a more tactical basis.

The fund will start with a mix of seven specialist portfolios managed by underlying general partners (GP) that have been determined through the firm’s ongoing research process of more than 1,000 private credit products.

It will seek to deliver an annualised net return of 8 per cent over a market cycle and will be available to professional investors based in the UK.

The launch of the fund comes amid “significant appetite” for private markets exposure, with inflows of around $200bn between January 2021 and January 2024, according to the S&P Global Ratings.

“Private credit has been an asset class ‘in vogue’ for some time, with investors keen to access the improved returns and lower drawdowns on offer relative to those available via public markets,” said Russell Investments senior portfolio manager, Keith Brakebill.

“However, investors have historically been limited by their ability to access the asset class effectively and have had to do so by focusing on specific sub-segments rather than via a broad exposure.

“In launching our evergreen Russell Investments Global Private Credit Fund, we are able to offer a compelling solution to investor needs, allowing clients to access a diversified portfolio of private credit assets in a single investment which can generate income and long-term capital appreciation.”

Russell Investments head of EMEA, Jim Leggate, added: “This launch reflects our continued commitment to provide all clients across the institutional and wealth management space with institutional-quality solutions to meet their long-term goals.

“There are clear advantages for investors to ensure they have adequate exposure to private credit assets which can be employed as a return enhancer, risk reducer or a combination of the two depending on their individual requirements.

“Our scale and research capabilities leave us well positioned to provide diversified exposure to best-of-breed managers within this evergreen structure that aligns with investors’ liquidity requirements.”

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