Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund Announces Completion of $1.370 Billion Investment Grade Secured Notes Offering

Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund ("CCLFX" or "the Fund"), a diversified interval fund focused on consistent income through corporate middle market direct lending, is pleased to announce the closing of its seventh privately-placed Senior Secured Notes (the "Notes") offering, totaling $1.370 billion in principal amount. The Notes are secured by CCLFX's assets, rank pari passu with its senior secured revolving credit facility, and have staggered maturity dates from 3 to 12 years.

The Fund intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to support continued growth in the balance sheet coinciding with the Fund's pace of equity inflows. As of July 31, 2024, CCLFX has over $21.2 billion in net assets, up from approximately $15.6 billion as of December 31, 2023.

"A transaction of this size and scale that also reduces our overall cost of financing is a testament to CCLFX's overall team and its ability to tap the debt capital markets in a differentiated way.  We thank each of our lender partners for their strong and continued support," noted Daniel Lepore, Managing Director and Head of Liability Management.

"Earlier this summer, CCLFX celebrated two milestones—five years of performance and reaching $20 billion in net assets. This facility is another important accomplishment for the Fund to support continued growth and provide enhanced exposure to direct lending," added Stephen Nesbitt, Portfolio Manager of CCLFX and CEO of Cliffwater.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase the Notes or any other securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

MUFG Securities Americas Inc. and U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. acted as the Lead Placement Agents in connection with the private placement of the Notes, with PNC Capital Markets LLC, SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., Regions Securities LLC, and Synovus Securities, Inc. as Placement Agents.

ABOUT CLIFFWATER CORPORATE LENDING FUND (CCLFX)

Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund is a Delaware statutory trust registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund operates as an interval fund and commenced operations on March 6, 2019.

CCLFX employs an innovative approach to corporate middle market lending, investing and co-investing in a diverse set of loans originated through multiple high-caliber institutional lenders. CCLFX focuses on delivering consistent floating-rate income and principal protection through all environments with low price volatility.

As of July 31, 2024, CCLFX has over $21.2 billion in net asset value and approximately $26.3 billion in total gross assets. Its diversified portfolio provides investors exposure to over 3,700 unique private credit borrowers, is allocated 96% to first lien senior secured loans, and has a non-accrual rate of 0.42%. CCLFX has an 11% distribution rate and has generated a net annualized total return of 9.54% since its inception on June 5, 2019.

Cliffwater LLC serves as the investment adviser of the Fund. 

https://www.cliffwaterfunds.com

ABOUT CLIFFWATER LLC

Cliffwater LLC ("Cliffwater", or "the Firm") is an independent alternative investment adviser and fund manager that provides proactive research, advisory, and investment services. Cliffwater was founded in 2004; has offices in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Chicago, and New York; and currently has approximately $29 billion in assets under management (AUM) and $83 billion in assets under advisement (AUA). 

Cliffwater is a leader in private debt. The Firm's research has been published in "The Journal of Alternative Investments," and in 2018, its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Nesbitt, was named one of the "30 Most Influential People in Private Debt" by Private Debt Investor. Mr. Nesbitt has also written one of the first books on private debt: "Private Debt: Opportunities in Corporate Direct Lending" (Wiley Finance, 2019); with its second edition being released in 2023: "Private Debt: Yield, Safety and the Emergence of Alternative Lending" (Wiley Finance, 2023).

Cliffwater's private debt research has also led to the creation of four indices: the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index ("CDLI"), which is an asset-weighted index that seeks to measure the unlevered, gross of fees performance for U.S. middle market corporate loans; the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index: Senior-Only ("CDLI-S"), which is an index focusing on the senior loans within the CDLI; the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index: Venture-Only ("CDLI-V"), which is an index comprised of only venture-backed loans within the CDLI; and the Cliffwater BDC Index ("CWBDC"), which is a capitalization-weighted index built to measure the performance of exchanged-traded Business Development Companies ("BDCs").  

Cliffwater LLC is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). https://www.cliffwater.com