(Bloomberg) -- TCW Group launched a new private credit asset-backed finance strategy anchored with $1 billion of investor commitments, the latest firm to step in as banks pull back from structured finance.

The Los Angeles-based asset manager hired Dylan Ross as managing director and portfolio manager to oversee the effort, according to a news release reviewed by Bloomberg. He previously worked as a partner at Brigade Capital Management LP, where he helped launch the firm’s dedicated structured-credit fund in 2014 and was involved in leading the business.

The new strategy is focused on securitizing assets including pools of consumer-finance loans, mortgages and infrastructure debt. Asset-backed finance is a growing area in private credit, as more managers look to capitalize on the retrenchment of regional banks and provide investors with exposure to a differentiated asset class as they look to broaden their holdings beyond corporate debt. 

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TCW already has a $90 billion liquid securitized business, and this will expand that operation into private credit, or non-bank lending.

The new effort will allow TCW to give clients exposure to more asset classes, “to achieve higher yields without taking out a lot of additional risk and also be a meaningful player in the financing of the real economy,” said Kathryn Koch, president and CEO of TCW in an interview. 

TCW will focus on providing lending backed by commercial real estate, residential mortgages, hard assets and financial assets. Transaction sizes can reach up to $500 million for some investment-grade asset-backed lending in the strategy. 

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