With a whole slew of credit interval funds hitting the market this year, its time to compare the basic structures and fee arrangements.  The chart below consists of funds that have been declared effective within the past year, all from familiar sponsors.  Within the broader category of credit, there are a lot of substrategies, but its no coincidence, that all of the Sponsors for these funds have marketed BDCs to retail investors in the past.

Recently launched credit funds(as of April 2017*):

Fund	FS Energy Total Return Fund- A	FS Energy Total Return Fund -I	Griffin Institutional Access Credit Fund- A	Griffin Institutional Access Credit Fund- C	Griffin Institutional Access Credit Fund- I	Sierra Total Return Fund	Cion Ares Diversified Credit Fund
Ticker	XFEAX	XFEYX	CRDTX	CGCCX	CRDIX	SRNTX	CADEX
Advisor	FS Energy Advisor LLC	FS Energy Advisor LLC	Griffin Capital Credit Advisor, LLC	Griffin Capital Credit Advisor, LLC	Griffin Capital Credit Advisor, LLC	STRF Advisors, LLC (Medley Management)	Cion Ares Management, LLC
Sub-Advisor	Magnetar Asset Management LLC	Magnetar Asset Management LLC	BCSF Advisors, LP	BCSF Advisors, LP	BCSF Advisors, LP	NA	Ares Capital
Minimum Initial Investment	$2,500	$1,000,000	$2,500	$2,500	$1,000,000	$2,500	$2,500
Strategy	Equity and Debt securities of natural resource companies.	Equity and Debt securities of natural resource companies.	High yield debt securities	High yield debt securities	High yield debt securities	Debt and Equity	Diversified Credit
Targeted Capital Raise	Up to $2 billion	Up to $2 billion	Up to $1 billion	Up to $1 billion	Up to $1 billion	Up to $1 billion	Up to $1 billion
Redemption Program	5% per quarter	5% per quarter	5% per quarter	5% per quarter	5% per quarter	5% per quarter	5% per quarter
Offering Costs
Maximum Total Sales Load	5.75%	None	5.75%	None	None	2.00%	5.75%
Maximum Commission	5.00%	None	5.00%	None	None	0.75%	5.00%
Dealer Manager Fee	0.75%	None	0.75%	None	None	1.25%	0.75%
Distribution Fee	None	None	None	0.75%	None	0.75% of average daily net assets until cap is reached	None
Shareholder servicing expenses	0.25% average daily net assets	None	0.25% average daily net assets	0.25% average daily net assets	None	0.25% of average daily net assets	0.25% of average daily net assets
Operating Fees/Costs
Management Fee	1.60 % of total assets	1.60% of total assets	1.85% of net assets	1.85% of net assets	1.85% of net assets	1.5% of total assets	1.5% of total assets
Contingent Deferred Sales Charge	None	None	None	1.0% during first year	None	1.0% during first year	1.0% during first 18 months
Incentive Fee	None	None	None	None	None	15.0% of net investment income over 6.0% hurdle, with catch up provision	20% of net investment income over 6% hurdle, with catch up provision

*table updated to reflect reduced management fees at FS Energy Total Return Fund.   For continuously updated data on new funds launched since April 2017, see the Premium Membership section.  

A few highlights to note:

• Most interval funds targeting retail investors have redemption programs set at 5% per quarter.  However, there are a few older interval, mainly institutional interval funds that have annual redemption programs.
• Sierra Total Return fund is relatively unique in that it is directly run by a lower middle market lending shop. All the other funds in this chart outsource most of the credit underwriting.
• Griffin is charging its management fee based on net assets, but the other new credit funds in the table below are charging management fees based on total assets.
• Medley and Ares are both charging incentive fees, unlike Griffin and FS Investments.

We’ll be adding more fee comparison information in the Tools and Data section in the near future.