French asset manager Eurazeo has closed its largest direct lending fund to date at 3.9 billion euros, or roughly $4.5 billion, beating its fundraising target by almost a third in what remains a difficult global environment for private debt.
The fund, called Eurazeo Private Debt VII, attracted total commitments of 5.5 billion euros when separately managed accounts and private wealth capital are included. International investors account for more than 60 percent of commitments, with North American and Asian limited partners among the most active, according to the firm.
The close is roughly 1.7 times the size of Eurazeo's 2023 predecessor fund, according to Yahoo Finance, which cited PitchBook data. That step-up is slightly above the average 1.5 times growth recorded across European mid-market fund closes in the first quarter of 2026.
The fund focuses on lending to lower mid-market companies across Europe and is already 65 percent deployed across more than 70 companies.
The fundraise comes at a complicated moment for the broader private credit industry. PitchBook's 2025 Annual Global Private Debt Report shows that 55 direct lending funds reached a final close in 2025, raising a combined $101.7 billion, a decline in both fund count and capital raised compared to the prior year. Private debt overall saw its third consecutive year of declining fund count, even as total capital raised held broadly steady at around $221 billion.
One detail stands out in the European market specifically. European private debt funds raised $79.4 billion in 2025, but when the two largest closes by Ares Management and CVC Capital Partners are stripped out, the region's share of global fundraising falls back in line with historical norms. That means a handful of large managers are responsible for an outsized share of European activity.
That concentration is part of a broader trend. The PitchBook report found that 93 percent of all private debt capital raised in 2025 went to experienced managers, defined as those on their fourth fund or later. That was a record share, reflecting investor preference for established names during a period of market uncertainty.
Pricing pressure also complicates the deployment picture. Spreads on European direct lending deals averaged 509 basis points in the 12 months through April 2026, slightly below the full-year 2025 reading of 522 basis points. U.S. spreads have widened by 50 to 100 basis points over the same period. The tighter European pricing reflects intense competition among lenders, with larger direct lenders moving down the market as a recovering broadly syndicated loan market reclaims large-cap deals.
