Eaton Vance Institutional Senior Loan Fund nears $8 bln

Eaton Vance increased the dollar contributions to its Eaton Vance Institutional Senior Loan Fund by $2.4 billion in one year, bringing the total to $7.8 billion for the platform for public pension funds, endowments and other big LPs, according to filings.

The 2015-2016 period marked the largest dollar increase in a single year for the fund, beating out the $2.2 billion jump between 2013 and 2014, according to a review of its amended filings.

Another tailwind for fundraising may have come from activity in the debt markets in late 2015, when a flight to safer forms of debt such as senior loans took place during the upheaval in junk bonds and junior debt.

The fund has been amended every year since its first Form D filing in 2007. Unlike a closed-end fund that hits its target and stops fundraising, this pool appears to be open-ended with annual updates to the total dollars drawn in.

Officers listed on the Eaton Vance Institutional Senior Loan Fund are Laurie Hylton, Thomas Faust Jr, Frederick Marius and A John Murphy.

Faust is chairman, CEO and president of Eaton Vance, according to the firm’s annual report. Hylton works as vice president, chief financial officer and chief accounting officer, and Marius holds the title of chief legal officer.

Murphy is a registered broker-dealer for Eaton Vance Distributors Inc, the firm’s brokerage arm, according to filings.

An Eaton Vance spokeswomen declined to comment.

Large asset managers such as Eaton Vance typically run trading desks that invest in debt, also known as commercial paper, issued by banks and corporate borrowers — not unlike a U.S. bond investing operation, according to an LP familiar with the practice.

The desks essentially buy pieces of loan deals for acquisitions or general purposes. Senior loans are backed by collateral, which makes them the safest bet in the capital stack of a company.

Eaton Vance also manages at least one publicly traded senior loan fund: Senior Floating Rate Trust, which offers return rates that adjust to match any interest rate hikes. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFR.

Eaton Vance commits “significant resources to serving institutional and high-net-worth clients who access investment management services on a direct basis and through investment consultants,” according to its annual report.

As of October 31, 2015, Eaton Vance disclosed $311 billion in assets under management, including $120 billion from institutional investors and $24.5 billion from high net worth account assets. Private funds totaled about $26.6 billion of the firm’s total fund assets of $125.9 billion.

Action Item: Download a table showing the annual totals for the senior loan fund: Eaton Vance Senior Loan Fund. Read the Eaton Vance annual report: http://1.usa.gov/1TwGjO4.