Downtown asset management firm The TCW Group last week closed a $400 million collateralized loan obligation fund, its second such action of the year.

The fund is primarily secured with broadly syndicated first-lien loans, the company said. It will be managed within TCW’s $70 billion global credit platform by senior portfolio managers Drew Sweeney and Ken Toshima.

The new collateralized loan obligation, or CLO, fund represents TCW’s 10th such fund.

“We plan to prioritize loans and dedicate resources to ensure that the TCW loan platform obtains top-tier status in the marketplace,” Sweeney said in a statement. “We were pleased to have had the opportunity to ramp collateral during the last several months and are grateful for the confidence investors continue to place in our disciplined process and approach.”

Under a CLO, a firm obtains a wide variety of debt that is pooled together and marketed piecemeal to its clients. Those clients will buy multiple pieces of different debts, which provides cash flow to the initial firm and reduces default risk for the new debt holders.

The company has made a concerted effort to expand its use of the securitization platform since 2017, when it closed its first CLO.

“CLOs and loans broadly are an important area of growth for TCW, and we are committed to continuing to enhance our leveraged finance franchise as part of our broad offering of world-class fixed income products,” Katie Koch, president and CEO of TCW, said in a statement. “Over the past few years we have continued to invest in our credit capabilities across the capital structure through the addition of top talent in both research and trading.”

Koch took leadership of the company earlier this year.

Since April, TCW has partnered with Lakemore Partners Ltd., a London-based private equity firm that specializes in CLOs, for this and other CLO funds. Jefferies LLC, a New York-based financial services firm, advised TCW on the move.

In other recent activity, TCW last month purchased exchange-traded funds valued at nearly $671 million from Engine No. 1, a Bay Area activist investment firm. The transaction included three separate funds — each targeting net-zero emissions, supply chain improvements and voting access — as well as the EFT platform and team from Engine No. 1. The company stated that it also considers EFTs a significant part of its future growth trajectory.

Overall, TCW manages around $210 billion in assets, including pension plans, endowments, financial institutions and foundations.