Fund Friday: Top fundraising news in private equity

FS KKR Capital Corporation, a publicly traded private credit vehicle managed by KKR, reported an increase in troubled loans and lower fourth-quarter income, prompting a 15% decline in its share price, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The business development company oversees a $13bn portfolio, largely composed of loans extended to private-equity-backed mid-sized companies during the record 2021–2022 takeover cycle.

Net investment income fell to $0.48 per share in the fourth quarter, down from $0.57 in the prior quarter. The fund also reduced the valuation of certain assets, reflecting a broader repricing across parts of the private credit market.

A publicly traded private credit vehicle managed by Blackstone has priced a $400m bond due in 2029 at a yield of 2 percentage points above US Treasuries, according to Bloomberg.

The bond, issued by Blackstone Secured Lending Fund, will use proceeds for general corporate purposes. Initial price discussions were around 2.25 percentage points above Treasuries, before tightening to 2 percentage points.

The transaction comes one day after the fund disclosed further markdowns in one of its largest holdings, a loan to software company Medallia, which is backed by Thoma Bravo. Blackstone reduced the loan’s valuation to approximately 78 cents on the dollar, down from 87 cents last June.

Novacap has closed its Technologies Fund VII at nearly $3.8bn, exceeding its $2.75bn target by more than $1bn in under a year, the firm announced.

The vehicle marks Novacap’s largest fund to date and brings total assets under management to more than $12bn. The raise comes amid a challenging global fundraising backdrop, underscoring continued LP appetite for sector-specialist technology buyout platforms.

Tech VII will pursue middle-market and lower-middle-market investments in profitable North American B2B software and technology-enabled services businesses. The strategy emphasises operational value creation and cross-border add-on acquisitions to accelerate scale.