Bloomberg reported that AllianceBernstein Holding raised $500 million and hired a team from a Barclays Plc unit that was divested last year to start a middle-market lending business.

According to Bloomberg, the investment-management firm hired five people, led by Brent Humphries, from the British bank to expand its alternative-assets business. Jay Ramakrishnan, Patrick Fear, Shishir Agrawal and Wesley Raper are the other members joining Humphries from Barclays.

Bloomberg said AllianceBernstein is starting the business amid signs that investor appetite for leveraged loans to large corporate borrowers in the U.S. is beginning to temper.

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