NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial's ( PRU )

PGIM Fixed Income has completed the private purchase of

$500 million worth of loans from buy-now-pay-later firm Affirm

Holdings ( AFRM ), the two companies said on Tuesday.

The transaction deepens Affirm's partnership with PGIM Fixed

Income, which manages an asset-based finance business with more

than $120 billion in assets under management across public and

private securitized credit

PGIM Fixed Income had also invested in Affirm's assets in

the past through asset-backed securitizations, the statement

said.

PGIM Fixed Income has originated multiple billions of

dollars of asset-backed financing this year and expects to

nearly triple the amount next year, Edwin Wilches, Managing

Director and Co-Head of Securitized Products at PGIM Fixed

Income, told Reuters.

"The economy is growing, need for financing is growing and

the traditional lender banks have less appetite or have less

ability to do (these kinds of financing). So there's a gap," he

said.

Other factors that are helping to grow the ABF market for

fund managers is more flows into fixed income markets as yields

are higher, insurance companies are growing and diversifying,

while additional demand is coming from pensions.

"We see U.S. pension funds being attracted to ABF deals as

they provide attractive spreads while achieving a

diversification benefit away from their pre-existing public and

private corporate-focused portfolios," Wilches said.