Societe Generale and Toronto-based asset manager Brookfield have teamed up to launch a private credit fund.

The potential value behind the partnership is that Societe Generale uses its banking expertise to bring their origination and other capacities and that Brookfield brings their fund distribution and other expertise.

The firms are seeding the fund with EUR 2.5 billion, and looking to grow it to EUR 10 billion with investor capital.

The fund will invest in investment grade deals. The fund intends to focus on two strategies with the seed EUR 2.5 billion – i) fund finance, and ii) real assets credit in power, renewables, data, midstream and transportation.

Societe Generale and Brookfield expect the fund to appeal to insurance companies – based on its investment grade credits and duration.

This could become one of Europe’s largest private credit funds, and is intended to be the first of more partnerships between the two firms.

It could provide meaningful competition to other private credit funds – by leveraging Societe Generale’s corporate client base, Brookfield’s asset management brand as a $850bn+ AUM manager, and both firms’ distribution platforms.