Bridgepoint's Latest Direct Lending Fund Surpasses €5bn

Bridgepoint closed Bridgepoint Direct Lending IV (“BDL IV”) on 3^rd August 2026 at €5.1bn, €1.1bn above its €4bn target, after around 30 months in the market. This represents a 1.5x increase on its prior vintage, BDL III (€3.4bn). The fund is already more than 40% deployed across 20-plus European mid-market companies with EBITDA of €15m–€50m.

Fundraising Pace: BDL IV versus BDL III

LP Base & Investor Composition

Long-term investors include Worcestershire Pension Fund, who have invested in a total of three vintages of the BDL strategy: BDL II, III and IV. Other LPs include Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF), who committed up to $30mn to BDL IV in June 2024.

Fundraising strategy

The fundraising campaign saw significant recommitments from existing investors alongside a marked geographic expansion of the LP base globally. In aggregate, most of the capital came from existing Bridgepoint relationships: either BDL re-ups or LPs from its private equity and infrastructure funds. Approximately 35% of commitments originated from new investors.

Bridgepoint’s success with BDL IV involved cross-selling into its existing client base, securing capital commitments from LPs already familiar with the firm’s credit expertise.

Regional placement agents played a role in widening distribution for BDL IV. These were the same eight marketers as BDL III and included: Aviditi and Greenhill (New York), GenCap (Dubai), Kakaopay Securities (Seoul), Picton (Santiago), Pinegrove (Tel Aviv) and two individuals in Paris and London.

The Bridgepoint Credit platform manages approximately €17bn of assets (through December 2025). Its direct lending teams sit in London, Paris, Stockholm, Frankfurt and Amsterdam and is headed up by Andrew Konopelski, Managing Partner, Bridgepoint Credit.

“The European middle market remains one of the most attractive places to lend: home to Europe’s largest universe of companies, resilient and increasingly underserved by traditional banks,” remarked Konopelski at BDL IV’s final close.

IR Leadership

Marcus Wallinder, Group Head of Investor Relations, oversees the global IR team, which manages over 1,225 global institutional investors.

Carlota Sanchez-Marco, Partner, Head of Credit Investor Services & Co-Head EMEA Coverage led BDL IV’s fundraise. Previously, Carlota ran capital raising at EQT Credit from 2016, before joining Bridgepoint in 2020.

The Global Coverage team is responsible for managing fund-specific relationships (including Private Equity, Infrastructure, and Private Credit like BDL IV). Bridgepoint has systematically scaled this team out of its 17 global offices, adding dedicated senior IR professionals permanently on the ground in China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the US, and the DACH region, alongside a designated channel for Private Wealth headed by David Walsh.

During its 2025 LPAC, Bridgepoint asked investors what they would like the firm to optimise: IRR, TVPI, DPI. The answer: all three. Xavier Robert, Deputy CEO, Bridgepoint Group said during IPEM Global 2026 this requires “looking at your fund as a whole to maximise performance. On the private equity side we see probably more than 2,000 new ideas every year, and we do 15 of them.”

Peer comparison

In terms of fundraising scale and timing, Bridgepoint's closest direct peers are Tikehau Capital, which closed its sixth-generation direct lending fund at a near-identical €5.2bn, and Eurazeo, which assembled a €5.5bn total private debt programme. The broader landscape includes specialized players like Sixth Street (€3.75bn equity hard cap) and Hayfin’s record-breaking €15 bn+ fund.