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The top private credit firms in Europe by deal count are Ares, Blackstone Credit and Arcmont. Debtwire’s 2025 rankings credit them with 53, 51 and 46 new-money direct lending deals. Including add-ons, Ares led on 99, ahead of Arcmont on 74 and Blackstone on 67.
Apollo, Goldman Sachs Private Credit, Pemberton, Eurazeo and Muzinich lead individual segments or countries, and specialists such as CVI and TureInvest lead their home markets. Hayfin stands out on fund size. If you are raising debt for a buyout, building a lender list or recruiting, you need to know which firm leads which segment and country.
Debtwire tracks European direct lending (loans negotiated directly between a lender and a borrower, usually a private equity-backed company). Its full-year 2025 report recorded €115bn of volume across 1,357 deals, up 23% and 11% on 2024. Sponsor-backed deals made up nearly 75% of activity.
The table shows the leaders by number of deals in 2025 and the first half of 2026.
| Lender | 2025 new-money deals | 2025 incl. add-ons | 1H26 new deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ares | 53 | 99 | 31 |
| Blackstone Credit | 51 | 67 | Outside top three |
| Arcmont | 46 | 74 | 23 |
| Apollo | Outside top three | Outside top three | 20 |
The market is fragmented. Ares’s 53 new-money deals were only 5.63% of the 2025 market in Debtwire’s tables, and the top three together held about 16%. No single lender sets terms for European direct lending, so a borrower can usually find several credible bidders.
Activity is still growing. Debtwire’s 1H26 report shows €63.16bn of volume, the highest half-year on record, and says 2026 is on pace for a record year. Matching 2025 needs €51.84bn in the second half (€115bn – €63.16bn), below the second-quarter rate of €28.4bn a quarter.
The overall table hides big differences by ticket size. Debtwire splits the market into large-cap, mid-market and small-cap deals, and the leaders change in each:
For a large buyout, your lender group will come from the large-cap table. For a €20m loan to a smaller company, start with the 2025 small-cap leaders, CVI, Fiduciam and Muzinich, alongside national lenders.
US-headquartered managers lead the pan-European tables with large dedicated European funds. For their global platforms, see our list of the top private credit firms worldwide.
Ares is the largest direct lender in Europe by deal count. Kirkland & Ellis, which advised on the fund, reported in January 2025 that Ares Capital Europe VI had closed at €17.1bn. That was its hard cap and above the €15bn target.
Including related vehicles and leverage, the strategy has about €30bn to invest. The previous fund, Ares Capital Europe V, closed in 2021 at €11.1bn. Ares ranked first in the UK and Ireland in 2025 with 27 deals and tied for first in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
These three compete mainly for larger deals. Blackstone Credit was second by new-money deals in 2025 and third in Southern and Eastern Europe. Apollo was second in the UK and Ireland with 21 deals and third overall in 1H26.
Goldman Sachs Private Credit led large-cap lending in 2025. Debtwire’s 1H26 report points to stiff competition from the broadly syndicated loan market, so on large deals these lenders are often bidding against a bank-led syndicated financing.
Several of the most active lenders are European firms built around the European sponsor market.
Arcmont started in 2011 as the private debt division of BlueBay Asset Management and became independent in 2019. Nuveen acquired a majority stake in 2023. Arcmont reports €46bn raised since inception, including separate accounts, co-investment and leverage, and more than 600 transactions.
It was second in Europe in 2025 once add-ons are counted, and led Benelux and junior debt. Its strategies cover direct lending, capital solutions, impact lending and NAV financing (loans secured against a fund’s portfolio).
Hayfin raised more than €15bn for Direct Lending Fund V across the commingled fund and related vehicles, Macfarlanes, its legal adviser, announced in July 2026. The previous fund closed in August 2023 with over €6bn. The strategy makes senior secured loans to mid-market and upper mid-market companies across Europe.
Pemberton is a European mid-market specialist. It led the mid-market table by deal count in 1H26 with 13 deals. In 2025 it ranked second for ESG-linked lending with 18 deals, behind Eurazeo on 37.
The two Paris-based firms sit at the top of the French table. Eurazeo led France in 2025 with 20 deals, ahead of Tikehau (17) and CIC Private Debt (15). Eurazeo closed its seventh private debt fund at €3.9bn in June 2026, against a €3bn target.
The wider programme reached €5.5bn. Eurazeo reports more than €11bn of private debt assets and focuses on the lower mid-market, with teams in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid and Stockholm.
Outside the UK, France and the pan-European tables, local lenders often lead. In 2025, Debtwire ranked:
These firms compete on local relationships, language and knowledge of national insolvency and security rules. On a small loan in a single country, they are often among the most active bidders.
Euro area companies depend heavily on lenders based elsewhere. The European Central Bank’s May 2026 Financial Stability Review puts assets of private credit funds managed from the euro area at about €100bn in 2025, even after 14% annual growth since 2010. That is less than one year of European direct lending deployment (€115bn).
The ECB also finds that euro area companies receive around 70% of their private credit funding from funds based outside the euro area. Most of the leaders in the tables above are US-owned or run from London, so a German or Dutch borrower will often sign with one of them.
Debtwire recorded an average direct lending margin of 521 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 571bps in the third quarter. That was 140bps above syndicated loan pricing of 381bps. Net leverage was 4.7x EBITDA. Unitranche margins have since edged up, averaging 542bps in the second quarter of 2026 against 530bps in the first.
Each ranking measures something different, so pick the one that fits your question:
As an example, a French mid-market buyout needing €100m of debt could approach one or two large platforms, a European mid-market lender and a French specialist. Ares, Arcmont, Pemberton, Eurazeo and Tikehau would all be credible names from the 2025 and 1H26 tables.
Once you have the list, a structured bookbuilding process keeps the lenders competing on terms. For careers, the same split applies. Large platforms work on larger sponsor deals across several countries. Specialists such as CVI, Berenberg or TureInvest focus on their home markets, so local language and market knowledge count for more there.
Ares is the largest direct lender in Europe by deal count. Debtwire ranked it first in 2025 with 53 new-money deals, or 99 including add-ons, and first again in 1H26 with 31. Its Ares Capital Europe VI fund closed at €17.1bn, with about €30bn available including related vehicles and leverage.
By deal count, the most active European-headquartered lenders include Arcmont (74 deals including add-ons in 2025), Eurazeo (27 mid-market and 20 French deals) and CVI (25 small-cap deals). Pemberton led the mid-market in 1H26. By fund size, Hayfin stands out with more than €15bn raised for its fifth direct lending fund.
Ares led European mid-market direct lending in 2025 with 41 deals, followed by Eurazeo with 27 and Arcmont with 26. In the first half of 2026, Pemberton took first place with 13 deals, ahead of Ares on 11 and Arcmont on 7, according to Debtwire’s league tables.
European direct lending reached €115bn of volume across 1,357 deals in 2025, according to Debtwire. That was 23% higher than 2024 by volume. The first half of 2026 set a half-year record at €63.16bn, and Debtwire says 2026 is on pace for another record year.
Ares, Blackstone Credit and Arcmont lead European direct lending by deal count. Apollo, Goldman Sachs, Pemberton and Eurazeo lead individual segments or countries, and Hayfin has one of the largest funds. Build any lender list or job search from the segment and regional tables first.
P.S. If you want to reach these lenders directly, the Private Equity & Venture Capital Fund Database – EMEA lists funds across Europe, and our Premium Resources include additional tools you might be interested in. For weekly finance updates and the latest financial reports, join the Private Equity Bros newsletter.
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