Zurich Insurance Group has partnered with Pemberton Asset Management to launch its first European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF), focused on private debt.

The fund, which will be managed by private credit manager Pemberton, will focus on direct lending to European mid-market companies.

It will be rolled out to Zurich’s individual investors and life insurance customers across Europe this year.

Read more: M&G’s private credit ELTIF opens to wholesale clients across Europe

The Luxembourg-domiciled fund benefits from the revised ELTIF regime – dubbed ELTIF 2.0 – which makes it easier for individual investors to access private assets, including private debt.

After the initial ramp-up period, the fund will offer monthly liquidity subject to certain conditions.

“The launch of Zurich Private Debt ELTIF marks an important milestone,” said Stephan van Vliet, group chief investment officer at Zurich Insurance Group.

“It reflects Zurich’s ambition to open up our private market expertise to our customers through innovative, high-quality solutions managed by leading asset managers.

Read more: New long-term funds set to democratise private credit

“The introduction of private asset solutions aims to increase the attractiveness of Zurich’s Life insurance products, enhance investment outcomes for our customers and offer the opportunity to invest like Zurich, by following our own proven investment principles.”

The fund is a sub-fund of Zurich Global Private Asset Solutions and is intended to be the first in a series of private market offerings for Zurich’s customers.

Zurich said that the portfolio will largely follow its investment approach and guidelines, with other Zurich entities investing into the same strategy and in the same loans as the fund.

Read more: ELTIF 2.0 presents “interesting opportunities” for private credit

“Private credit has continually grown over recent years,” said Symon Drake-Brockman, managing partner at Pemberton.

“Attractive risk-adjusted returns, portfolio diversification, and lower volatility are some of the key benefits of the asset class, which is appealing to an ever-broader number of investors. We are pleased to expand our partnership with Zurich and offer their customers access to the benefits of this exciting asset class.”