This year has seen asset managers clamouring to acquire private credit portfolios as alternatives continue to fill a growing funding gap left by the banks.
This month saw the crowning acquisition of the year, when BlackRock confirmed its plans to acquire HPS Investment Partners for $12bn (£9.5bn) in early December.
The massive deal will form a new private financing solutions business unit led by HPS co-founders Scott Kapnick, Scot French, and Michael Patterson, and is expected to increase private markets fee-paying assets under management and management fees by 40 per cent and approximately 35 per cent, respectively, and be modestly accretive to BlackRock’s adjusted earnings per share in the first full year after the transaction closes in mid-2025.
During the same month, global real asset manager CapitaLand Investment announce the AUS$200m (£100.5m) acquisition of the property and corporate credit investment management business of alternative investment manager Wingate Group.
Wingate is one of the largest private credit investment managers in Australia. It has executed more than 350 transactions with more than AUS$20bn in real estate value.
In November, alternative asset manager Stonepeak agreed to acquire private credit specialist Boundary Street Capital. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, will enable Stonepeak, which focuses on infrastructure and real assets, to expand its credit, digital infrastructure and technology investment capabilities.
Private investment firm J.C. Flowers & Co also agreed to the acquisition of credit management firm Pepper Advantage from owner Pepper Global in November. The terms of the agreement, which is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2025, were not disclosed.
Elsewhere, in October Ares Management confirmed its plans to acquire GLP Capital Partners (GCP), excluding its operations in Greater China, for $3.7bn (£2.8bn).
GCP is a global alternative asset management firm with $44bn of AUM as of 30 June 2024, and the deal will nearly double Ares’ assets under management (AUM) to approximately $96bn across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Ares said the transaction is expected to be “modestly accretive” in its first year, with “meaningfully higher accretion” expected in future years.
In September, investment firm Cambridge Associates agreed to acquire Zurich-based alternative investment specialist SIGLO Capital Advisors. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, was set to close in autumn 2024.
Also in September, BNP Paribas acquired HSBC’s private banking business in Germany as it seeks to grow its wealth management business across Europe.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management will focus on high-net worth and ultra-high-net worth individuals in the North Rhine-Westphalia area.
In July, alternative asset manager Blue Owl bought Atalaya Capital Management, in a $450m (£347m) deal that it said would significantly expand its alternative credit and asset-based finance capabilities.
New York-based Atalaya manages over $10bn of assets, focused primarily on asset-based credit investments across consumer and commercial finance, corporate and real estate.
In May, Arrow Global Group acquired credit manager Amitra Capital, in a move that will expand its footprint in Spain and across Europe.
Madrid-based Amitra has assets under management of approximately €4bn (£3.44bn), It was founded in 2019 and specialises in managing European non-performing loans and real estate investments.
Right at the very end of the working year, Third Point announced that it had acquired diversified alternative credit fund manager AS Birch Grove, with the deal set to close in early 2025. The acceleration of deal activity in the back half of 2024 suggests that 2025 will bring even more consolidation in the alternative credit sector. As more and more investors turn to private credit to diversify their portfolios, the opportunity to grow via acquisition may be too good to turn down.
