Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group  announced it has raised more than $800 million for the Carlyle Structured Credit Fund (CSC). The fund will invest in Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) backed by U.S. and European senior secured corporate loans actively managed by third parties.

The CSC team, led by Managing Directors Justin Plouffe and Ronnie Jaber, includes investment professionals in New York and London and leverages Carlyle’s CLO business, which manages more than $19 billion globally, as well as the more than 100 professionals across the Carlyle Global Credit platform. CSC will opportunistically invest in the primary and secondary CLO market, targeting pools backed by loan collateral that overlap with Carlyle’s fundamental credit expertise.

Mark Jenkins, Carlyle Managing Director and Head of Global Credit, said, “We believe Carlyle Structured Credit is an innovative approach to investing in the CLO space. Led by Ronnie and Justin, we have the ability to tap into the depth, strength and expertise of the entire Global Credit platform to capitalize on market opportunities.”

Justin Plouffe and Ronnie Jaber said, “We believe CLOs offer attractive risk-adjusted investment opportunities for investors who understand structural complexity and underlying credit fundamentals.  With this expertise and fund structure, we believe we are well-positioned to find the best opportunities to deploy capital in this environment.”

Jaber has 14 years of structured credit investment experience. He joined Carlyle in 2008 and is responsible for investing and trading structured and opportunistic credit products and helping shape internal market/macro strategy across the Global Credit business. Plouffe, who joined Carlyle in 2007, focuses on investing in Carlyle’s structured credit and opportunistic credit strategies.  He also serves as Chief Operating Officer for Carlyle’s Global Credit platform.  Both are based in New York.

Carlyle Structured Credit is part of Carlyle’s global credit platform. The credit platform resides within the Global Market Strategies segment, which had $31 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2017, and has more than 100 investment professionals in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong and London.