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(Reuters) – Superannuation fund AustralianSuper said on Wednesday it has increased the program size of its partnership with U.S.-based Churchill Asset Management to $1.5 billion, in an effort to increase investments in the private credit market.
The investment programme, which started with an initial installment of $250 million in 2022, targets senior and unitranche loans to private equity-backed U.S. mid-size companies.
AustralianSuper has over $4.5 billion invested in private credit globally, and aims to triple its exposure in the coming years through a mix of direct lending via its in-house private credit team and strategic partnerships with specialist managers.
Churchill is an investment-specialist affiliate of American asset manager Nuveen, which itself is a unit of financial planning firm TIAA.
“We believe the current environment is especially appealing to increase our investments in private credit,” AustralianSuper Head of Private Credit Nick Ward said.