The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is set to invest in a majority interest in a $3.1bn portfolio of loans made by Credit Suisse, Reuters has reported.

Britain’s main pension scheme for universities’ investment will provide senior debt finance to funds active in the direct-lending market as pension funds seek to diversify their investments.

As part of the agreement, Credit Suisse will keep hold of a minority interest in the loan portfolio and also receive a fee for services such as credit monitoring, structuring and the origination of new financing facilities to new initiatives created by USS to manage the portfolio.

The USS, defined benefit scheme currently has total fund assets of around £58bn as of September 2016.

USS Investment Management head of private credit and special situations Ben Levenstein commented: "This transaction gives USS exposure to top-tier private credit managers through a high-quality portfolio of loans delivering an attractive risk-adjusted cash flow for the benefit of our members.”

A spokesperson for Credit Suisse said: "Credit Suisse anticipates that other institutional investors will seek to join this collaboration with USS, providing the asset managers with access to a diversified pool of long-term institutional capital. These new institutional investors will have the same opportunity as USS to acquire services from Credit Suisse.”

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