At first glance, the forms filed with the US securities regulator are nothing to write home about. A few pages of administrative paperwork, long-winded fund names and amounts sometimes left “undefined”. Taken together, however, they tell a broader story: the global giants of private credit are once again raising capital to finance European companies.

Following Barings, KKR and Carlyle, Bain Capital has now also been listed in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registers. The US asset manager has registered the Bain Capital European Direct Lending Fund (U), I.L.P., alongside the Bain EDL Structured Feeder Designated Activity Co. These two Irish entities are linked to the same securities offering. Fundraising has not yet begun. The filing states that no initial sale has taken place, that no investors have yet subscribed, and that the target amount is “undefined”. The offer is intended to run for more than one year. It may be offered in all US states through Bain Capital Markets.

Taken on its own, this report does not reveal how much Bain Capital hopes to raise. It is the fact that it comes on the heels of announcements by three other major fund managers that gives it its significance.

Nearly a billion has already been declared

The documents previously filed by Barings Perpetual European Direct Lending Fund, KKR Enhanced European Direct Lending (EEA) Feeder and Carlyle European Direct Lending Fund showed that a total of $954.1 million worth of securities had already been sold.

These were not necessarily three offerings launched simultaneously. These forms were amendments to offers that were already open. They nevertheless showed that the amounts subscribed had increased by $792.4 million since the previous filings.

Bain’s new project is at an earlier stage. No equity has yet been sold, but the legal structures and marketing framework are now in place.

This sequence thus allows us to observe two stages of the same cycle: on the one hand, funds from Barings, KKR and Carlyle, whose fundraising is gaining momentum; on the other, Bain Capital, which is preparing its own fundraising round.

From 82 to 103 billion euros

This development comes at a time when the European direct lending sector is rapidly scaling up. According to data compiled by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and Octus, new financing provided directly by funds reached €103.2 billion in 2025, compared with €82.1 billion in 2024. The market has therefore grown by 25.7 per cent in one year.

Private credit has also accounted for a larger share of total European leveraged finance. Its share rose from 15 per cent in 2024 to almost 17 per cent in 2025. In a total market worth €617.3 billion, nearly one in every six euros came from direct lending.

The acceleration was particularly evident in the third quarter of 2025. Funds then provided €28.2 billion in new financing, an increase of 81 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2024. Acquisitions accounted for 32 per cent of the amounts committed over the first nine months of the year, leveraged buyouts for 28 per cent and refinancing for 22 per cent.

This momentum continued into early 2026. European direct lending generated €26.4 billion in new loans in the first quarter, up 39.6 per cent year-on-year. Volume fell slightly compared with the previous quarter, by 3.6 per cent, but held up significantly better than syndicated bank loans.

Over the same period, leveraged loan issuance fell by 27.1 per cent year-on-year to €81.8 billion. The total market comprising syndicated loans, high-yield bonds and direct lending contracted by 18.9 per cent. Private credit therefore continued to grow whilst other major sources of funding contracted.

The funds are financing more acquisitions

In the first quarter of 2026, leveraged buyouts accounted for 29 per cent of the amounts lent directly by the funds. Acquisitions accounted for 26 per cent and refinancing for 24 per cent. More than half of new private lending was therefore linked to changes in shareholding or company takeovers.

An asset manager can pool capital from insurers, pension funds or high-net-worth individuals, and then lend it directly to a company without going through a syndicated bank loan or a public bond issue. This approach generally allows for greater flexibility in negotiating the repayment schedule, security and terms of the loan. In return, investors tie up their money for several years and bear a credit risk in a less transparent market.

Yields are falling

However, the proliferation of funds is leading to fiercer competition amongst lenders. The AFME has observed a steady decline in yields on new private loans denominated in euros. These still stood at 10.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, compared with 8.3 per cent a year later and 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026. In less than two years, the initial yield has fallen by 2.7 percentage points. Funds are lending more, but on less lucrative terms.

The return of the banks to certain deals and the abundance of available capital are giving the best borrowers greater bargaining power. This is prompting fund managers to raise larger amounts of capital, seek out more deals and accept tighter margins.

Luxembourg and Dublin share the facilities

This new fundraising season also highlights the role played by European fund domiciliation centres. The vehicles identified at Barings, KKR and Carlyle were based in Luxembourg. Those that Bain Capital has just reported are Irish. The competition between Luxembourg and Dublin is thus clearly evident in the US registers. Major asset management firms use these two jurisdictions to raise capital from international investors, set up various sub-funds or feeder vehicles, and then deploy the funds into companies across Europe.

Bain’s Form D therefore does not prove that a new round of fundraising has taken place in Luxembourg. Rather, it broadens the picture: the Grand Duchy is one of the main hubs for the European private credit industry, which has seen annual volumes exceed €100 billion, whilst facing well-established competition from Ireland.

US filing forms finally offer a rare insight into a discreet market. US regulations require fund managers offering these funds to certain investors in the United States to file their offering with the SEC. An initial Form D generally announces the launch. Subsequent amendments gradually reveal the amounts sold and the number of investors. It is in this way that filings by Barings, KKR and Carlyle have made it possible to identify nearly one billion dollars in subscriptions. Bain’s filing now shows that another giant is preparing to raise capital. These four filings are not sufficient to gauge the market as a whole. Nevertheless, they shed light on a trend confirmed by European data: after rising from €82.1 billion in 2024 to €103.2 billion in 2025, direct lending grew by a further 40 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026.

The most striking contrast is now as follows: +39.6 per cent for direct lending in the first quarter of 2026, compared with –27.1 per cent for syndicated loans. This is the factor that best explains the simultaneous increase in funding.