ICG Senior Debt Partners

What they do

ICG Senior Debt Partners is the flagship direct lending strategy of ICG, an alternative asset manager listed in London with $126bn of assets under management and more than three decades of investing. ICG runs it within its private debt business, beside Australian senior debt and North American private debt, while the wider group also invests through structured capital, private equity secondaries, real assets and liquid credit from more than 20 locations. Senior Debt Partners writes first-lien senior secured debt, mainly bilaterally, for mid and upper-mid-market companies typically owned by leading private equity firms, with unitranche at the larger end. Its fifth fund reached a final close of $17bn in September 2024, significantly above target. The money comes from ICG's global client base of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and wealthy individuals. Press coverage puts most of its borrowers at €80m to €100m of EBITDA, out of reach for a company raising at this market's size.

Who they lend to

Senior Debt Partners lends to businesses that ICG describes as typically owned by leading private equity firms, in the mid and upper-mid market. Coverage of the fifth fund placed most portfolio companies at €80m to €100m of EBITDA, and ICG publishes no minimum EBITDA, turnover or loan size. The strategy is a generalist with a defensive, capital-preservation-first stance, and it takes no equity kickers or warrants. It is co-led from London and Paris, and the UK is one of its core markets. No sector exclusions are published. Owner-managed companies are offered no proposition: the borrower is a private equity firm's portfolio company.

How they structure a facility

The product is first-lien senior secured debt, written mainly on a bilateral basis, with unitranche or one-stop structures used at the larger end. Security takes the form of a debenture and first-lien charge in sponsor buyouts, which typically carry no personal guarantee, and the strategy takes no equity kickers or warrants to lift its return. ICG does not publish tenor, amortisation, leverage multiples, covenant style or pricing for Senior Debt Partners. Scale is the structural fact on record: the fifth fund closed at $17bn in September 2024, and in November 2025 ICG led a €2bn refinancing for Funecap Group. ICG's liquid credit business holds the same senior secured position in traded form, building portfolios of 100 to 125 syndicated loans that rank senior to all other debt.

How a deal reaches them

Deals reach Senior Debt Partners through private equity sponsors. Origination is bilateral and built on sponsor relationships, with no broker panel, and credit decisions sit with ICG's internal investment committee. The team is co-led from London and Paris. ICG publishes neither decision times nor the information it asks for. A company or adviser outside a sponsor process can still reach the firm through the contact page on ICG's site, which invites enquiries from users of capital as well as investors, but the strategy itself lends only to sponsor-owned businesses.

Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise

Senior Debt Partners shows a smaller borrower how sponsor senior debt is done at the top of the European market. The template is first-lien security, bilateral execution, no equity kickers and a defensive credit stance. Its borrowers, mostly at €80m to €100m of EBITDA, mark where the upper-mid-market begins, and the €2bn Funecap refinancing shows the size of a single deal. The senior and unitranche structures carry down to £3m to £15m deals with smaller direct lenders; the cheque size and the depth of sponsor backing are what change. Elsewhere in ICG, the structured capital strategies, including a Europe mid-market strategy, back family owners, founders and management teams, though ICG publishes no size for them either.

Where they are not the fit

Without a private equity owner, a company has no route into Senior Debt Partners, which lends to sponsor-owned businesses. A company raising £3m to £15m is also a long way from the €80m to €100m of EBITDA its portfolio typically carries. Borrowers wanting junior debt, a revolving working-capital line from a relationship bank, asset finance or property lending will find none of those described for the strategy. A sponsor seeking a lender that takes warrants or an equity kicker is in the wrong place, since the strategy takes neither.

Recent activity on the public record

In September 2026, ICG announced a record €12bn fundraise for its ninth European corporate fund, a separate strategy from Senior Debt Partners, completed its equity partnership with Amundi and launched an infrastructure debt strategy. In November 2025, ICG led a €2bn refinancing for Funecap Group. In September 2024, Senior Debt Partners held the final close of its fifth fund at $17bn, significantly above target, with about 45% of the fund already deployed by that point.

This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.