The logo of the Carlyle Group is displayed at the company's office in Tokyo, Japan October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

By Isla Binnie

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Private equity firm Carlyle has hired two senior executives for its direct-lending business as it tries to boost its share of a growing market, the company said on Thursday.

Michael Meagher joins as a partner from private credit firm Golub Capital, and JP Seminario moves to a managing director role from his previous position at investment firm Silver Point Capital. Both will focus on origination, or raising new debt deals, in the U.S., according to an internal memo. A Carlyle spokesperson confirmed the hires.

Corporations that once relied on banks have increasingly borrowed outside the traditional system in recent years as the number of debt products that banks offer declined and their lending policies tightened.

Direct lending, or loaning companies money raised from private investors, now accounts for around one-third of a private credit market that was worth around $1.8 trillion at the end of last year, according to Morgan Stanley.

Carlyle's direct-lending business now manages assets worth $12.5 billion, up from $2 billion in 2016, the memo said. That is a small slice of the more than $200 billion sitting in its global credit business.

Like many of its peers, Carlyle identified other business areas, including credit, to try to boost returns as the traditional model of buying and selling businesses struggled against higher interest rates and market volatility.

The new hires follow Carlyle's appointment of former Goldman Sachs banker Alex Chi to lead direct lending, starting in early 2026.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie in New York; Editing by David French and Mark Porter)