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Private equity sponsors looking for more cash are exploring what has been described as “single-asset NAV loans,” according to 9fin sources.

We’ve talked before about regular-way NAV (net asset value) loans; facilities taken out by sponsors and collateralized against the sponsor’s fund position. In contrast, single-asset NAV loans are backed by a sponsor’s equity stake in a single asset as opposed to a portfolio of equity positions.

In one recent example, 9fin reported last week that Clearlake is exploring obtaining a single-asset NAV loan against its equity position in Dun & Bradstreet, a company it had completed the acquisition of just two months ago for $7.7bn. Of that sum, $5.5bn was debt, provided by a group of direct lenders, led by Ares.

Clearlake is just one of a slew of private equity sponsors weighing up this type of financing, sources said. As buyouts get larger — take the record-breaking $55bn Electronic Arts buyout for example — sponsors are turning to products that leverage lever their equity exposure to a single asset.

For some, this is the new frontier of creativity in the private credit market.

“If you look at the growth [in number] of people participating, both banks and non banks in the space, it's because there's a lot of creativity in the solutions that you have," Ranesh Raminathan, a partner at Akin told 9fin.