About Bridgepoint

• Founded: 1984

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom

• AUM: approximately €43bn as of 2024

• Strategy: Mid-market private equity and private credit across Europe and North America

• Track record: manages multiple private equity and credit funds, including Bridgepoint Europe VII (€7.5bn, 2022) and Bridgepoint Development Capital III (€2bn, 2023)

• Leadership: William Jackson (Group CEO), Jérôme Michiels (Co-Head of Private Credit)

Bridgepoint has launched an evergreen direct lending vehicle domiciled in Luxembourg, targeting institutional investors. The perpetual structure adds a new format to the firm's European private credit platform, which has historically operated through closed-end funds. The vehicle is designed for institutions seeking exposure to European mid-market direct lending without the J-curve dynamics of traditional private credit vintages.

The evergreen structure puts Bridgepoint in direct competition with Blue Owl Capital's perpetual credit products and Ares Management's interval funds, both of which have pulled significant institutional capital over the past 18 months. Bridgepoint's move reflects a broader shift among European credit managers—HPS Investment Partners launched a similar vehicle in Q4 2024, and Intermediate Capital Group announced plans for one in early 2025. The appeal to LPs is clear: deployment capital immediately, no capital calls, and liquidity windows that mimic semi-liquid alts. The open question is whether these structures can maintain portfolio quality at scale when they cannot gate deployment to match deal flow, particularly if European mid-market default rates climb above the current sub-2% level.

What matters for Bridgepoint is how quickly the vehicle scales relative to its closed-end credit funds, which collectively raised roughly €3bn between 2021 and 2023. If the evergreen structure cannibalizes commitments to the next closed-end vintage, the firm gains LP convenience but potentially sacrifices the certainty of multi-year committed capital. If it attracts a different LP base—insurance companies or family offices that previously sat out private credit due to illiquidity—it is genuinely accretive. The deployment pace over the next 12 months will reveal which scenario is playing out.

Source: Private Equity Wire