Arini raises $1.5 billion, closes first direct lending fund

Arini Capital Management closed its inaugural direct lending fund and secured $1.5 billion of fresh commitments for its flagship credit strategy, Hedgeweek reported on Oct. 22.

The London manager, founded in 2021 by former Credit Suisse trader Hamza Lemssouguer, runs about $22 billion, with roughly $7 billion in the master fund that carries the flagship strategy, according to Hedgeweek.

For fund selectors, the additional disclosure Arini has given clients on valuation methodology, liquidity profile and internal risk controls is the new material for evaluating the October drawdown, Hedgeweek reported.

The flagship lost an estimated 6.91% between Oct. 1 and the end of last week, Hedgeweek reported, citing the Financial Times, following a 15.7% decline in the first nine months of 2026. That put the year-to-date decline above 21%, which Hedgeweek described as one of the steepest drawdowns among major credit hedge funds this year.

The losses trace to concentrated positions in distressed corporate debt, according to Hedgeweek. The book includes bonds and loans issued by Altice International, Brightspeed and Aston Martin, all of which have kept falling in secondary markets this month amid concerns over potential restructurings. Arini also holds a smaller position in German property group Adler, whose bonds have fallen below 60 cents on the euro after political proposals in Berlin to nationalize assets owned by large landlords.

Arini told investors in a letter earlier this month that the mark-to-market losses were not an indicator of soured investments, describing being contrarian as a necessary condition for the opportunity set, according to Hedgeweek. The manager pointed to previous periods in which distressed positions recovered.

Of the $1.5 billion, $425 million was allocated in early October, with the remaining capital expected to be deployed by early 2027, Hedgeweek reported.

The direct lending fund, Arini's first, runs through a strategic sourcing alliance with Lazard and targets more than $4 billion in deployment, according to Hedgeweek. Arini's asset-backed lending and private credit strategies have performed better than the flagship, Hedgeweek reported.