Reorg Releases Its Latest Rankings Data Showing Ares, Eurazeo, Goldman Sachs Private Credit as Top European Direct Lenders for the First Half of 2024

Reorg, a credit data and intelligence provider, released its European Direct Lender Rankings for the first six months of 2024, ranking lenders by sector, region, debt range and ESG compliance. Ares secured first place with 36 deals and a 7% share of the market, according to the rankings. Eurazeo held second place with 26 deals (5.1% share), while Goldman Sachs Private Credit entered the top three at third with 25 deals (4.9% share). In the broader rankings, which include non-corporate facilities such as real estate, the same three lenders led with market shares of 6.8%, 4.9% and 4.7%.

By debt size, Goldman Sachs Private Credit was the most active lender for facilities above €250 million, completing 23 deals, ahead of Ares with 14 and Apollo with 11. For deals below €250 million, Eurazeo narrowly edged Ares, 23 deals to 22, while Barings Private Debt held third with 16. Regionally, Ares, Ture Invest and Anthilia retained leads in the UK and Ireland, Nordic and Southern Europe, respectively. Golub replaced Eurazeo at the top of DACH, CVI led Eastern Europe, and Eurazeo displaced Tikehau in France. In ESG-compliant lending, Ares and Eurazeo placed first and second with 34 deals (20.7% share) and 23 deals (14%), with Pemberton third on 14 deals (8.5%).

European direct lending activity totalled 358 deals in H1 2024, up from 326 in H1 2023. Q1 2024 was subdued at 147 deals, while Q2 2024 reached 211, the strongest quarter in 18 months. Lower mid-market deals represented 75.1% of the market. Buyouts (34.6%) overtook bolt-on acquisitions (33.8%) as the leading use of proceeds, a reversal from H1 2023, when bolt-ons held 43.3% and buyouts 30.8%. Refinancings took third place at 16.5%. The UKI region accounted for 35.8% of deals (128), followed by France at 17.6% (63) and DACH at 13.7% (49).

Unitranche structures comprised 61.2% of H1 2024 deals. The $3.3 billion-equivalent club financing for Ardonagh in Q1 2024 remained the largest deal of the period, while PIB Group's $1.5 billion-equivalent clubbed transaction was the largest in Q2. Software-related borrowers led with 86 deals, followed by Business Services with 53 and Consumer with 49. Average leverage rebounded to 5.06x in Q2 2024 from 4.83x in Q1, though still below the 5.19x peak in Q2 2023. Average margins rose to 619 bps from 603 bps, but remained under the 687 bps high of Q1 2023. ESG-related deals reached 42% of Q2 transactions, up from 32% in Q1 and 35.4% in Q2 2023. Reorg describes itself as a credit intelligence provider founded in 2013.