Tikehau Capital is in discussions with a number of banks to set up “mutually beneficial” partnerships on products.
The French asset manager, which has €51bn (£44bn) in assets under management, 46 per cent of which is in credit, has a long history of partnerships with other asset managers, insurance companies and banks.
Most recently, the group set up a strategic alliance with Nikko Asset Management to expand into Asian private markets; partnered with stockbroker UOB-Kay Hian to launch a credit strategy; and launched a defence-focused fund with Société Générale Assurances, CNP Assurances and CARAC Group.
Back in 2014, the firm had signed a partnership with Amundi, with the former taking a stake in the latter and cooperating on private debt management.
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“The firm has been built with partnerships. We like partnerships,” Maxime Laurent-Bellue, deputy chief executive and co-head of credit, told Alternative Credit Investor.
“We’ve done partnerships with all sorts of players over the past 20 years. With families, with banks, with asset managers. So, this is something we’re always open to. We have some live discussions with banks, for instance.
“This is an area that we are very much focused on. And this can take many different forms. It can be very much local…or it can be global on a product. It has to be mutually beneficial. I think it’s really the opportunity that will drive the decision to move forward. But we are constantly having discussions.”
Tikehau’s private credit arm, with €23.4bn in assets under management, invests across direct lending, secondaries, collateralised loan obligations (CLOs), special opportunities and real estate debt. Although it is a wide platform, expansion and growth are still very much front of mind.
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Laurent-Bellue said the group has a few strategic projects in the pipeline, which could include new adjacencies or complementary products within its existing core strategies. While he would not elaborate on any further details, he noted that on the CLO side they are actively working to launch a captive equity fund in the fourth quarter of the year.
He also said that although they are currently investing in digital infrastructure through the real estate strategy, “one day the question will be whether we should dedicate a strategy as well”.
“We are European-rooted but we want to continue to expand,” he added. “For sure, Europe will remain and is still our core playground. Especially in the current environment, where there is a lot of interest in Europe for good reasons. This is just a reflection of how the business has grown recently. We’re now operating with 17 offices globally. So, naturally, we raise and deploy more capital globally.”
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The group is also innovating when it comes to tapping the private wealth channel, which Laurent-Bellue said is a key focus. Private capital currently makes up around 30 per cent of Tikehau’s assets under management. Most recently, Tikehau rolled out a private credit-focused European long-term investment fund.
“We’ve been successfully launching some unit-linked strategies partnering with insurance companies in private credit and more recently private equity,” he said. “In addition, we recently launched an evergreen semi-liquid private credit product which is growing fast and we intend to scale it over the coming months.”
