Hamilton Lane has announced the launch of its Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE) in Australia, a senior private credit vehicle targeting floating-rate, senior secured loans.
According to the firm, SCOPE bolsters a two-year track record, with the fund already available to investors in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
“The fund is structured as an evergreen vehicle, which allows for monthly subscriptions and offers regular liquidity with a lower investment minimum relative to traditional closed-end structures. As an all-weather fund, SCOPE seeks to generate consistency of performance and cash yield through up and down markets,” Hamilton Lane said.
Nayef Perry, global head of direct credit, pointed out that investors are increasingly looking to private credit to provide potential safety and yield.
“SCOPE offers investors access to a multi-manager portfolio with immediate deployment, greater control over their liquidity and regularly targeted distributions. This fund builds on the success of our global private credit platform and creates access for a broader set of investors,” Perry said.
Hamilton Lane clarified that its open-ended fund structure is also designed to offer lower investment minimums relative to traditional closed-end funds, in addition to providing portfolio diversification by general partner, geography and industry.
Scott Thomas, head of private wealth Australia, said: “For our investors in Australia, this fund launch is another significant milestone in support of Hamilton Lane’s commitment to broaden access to the attractive returns and wealth creation potential available through private markets.
“With the addition of SCOPE, qualified Australian investors of all sizes now have flexible access to two significant private market investment options spanning multiple geographies and strategies.”
Schroders has similarly launched a credit strategy to Australian investors in recent weeks.
Namely, the Schroder Australian High Yielding Credit Fund seeks to deliver returns of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent above the cash rate over the medium term and offer daily liquidity unlike term deposits.
While the fund has been running since 2001 as an allocation within the firm’s fixed income and multi-asset strategies, Schroders confirmed it is now available to retail investors as a stand-alone product for the first time.
