Pacific Investment Management Co. raised $2 billion for its specialty finance strategy, a key plank of the bond giant’s push into private lending.

Pimco, which disclosed the capital raise in a recent filing, has been building out its alternatives business in recent years as the firm expands beyond its bond roots. That includes the specialty finance strategy, also known as asset-based finance, secured by financial or hard assets. 

Pimco’s specialty finance business offers consumer debt, such as residential mortgages and credit cards, as well as non-consumer loans, such as equipment-based lending and aircraft leasing. 

Portfolio managers Harin de Silva, Kristofer Kraus and Jason Steiner lead the asset-backed lending strategy, which manages roughly $2.7 billion, including the latest money raised, according to a person familiar with the matter.  

The Newport Beach, California-based firm managed $2.01 trillion of assets as of Sept. 30. Over the past year, Pimco has been pitching more bespoke types of financing to compete with the growing ranks of private credit firms, and to meet investors’ demand for higher-yielding areas of private lending. 

The firm has also been beefing up its resources across alternatives, including capital solutions, and it has been betting against some parts of private credit, such as traditional direct lending. It’s poised to scoop up cheap loans from lenders needing a quick exit.

This article was provided by Bloomberg News.