Clearlake Capital to expand private credit capabilities with $5.1B AUM acquisition

Private credit has been building as an alternative financing option for businesses with the offer of attractive returns for investors, and Clearlake Capital Group LP is headed for a bigger slice of the market.

The California headquartered investment firm has agreed to acquire a $5.1 billion AUM private credit specialist from Natixis Investment Managers.

The pan-European MV Credit provides tailored fund solutions to investors across senior direct lending, subordinated direct lending, hybrid, and collateralized loan obligation strategies, and has deployed more than $11 billion since its inception in London in 2000.

For Clearlake, the acquisition will boost its credit business to more than $28 billion AUM (it was around $6 billion in 2020) and its firmwide AUM to more than $90 billion. It will also expand the firm’s team to more than 230 professionals across offices in Santa Monica, Dallas, Dublin, London, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Paris and Luxembourg.

José E. Feliciano, co-founder and managing partner at Clearlake, commented that credit is core to his firm’s strategy and has been in its DNA since it was founded in 2006.

“MV Credit’s exceptional track record and deep expertise in private credit align perfectly with our existing credit business and strengthen our continuing presence in Europe,” he said. “Clearlake has deployed over $40 billion in debt and preferred equity investments since 2006, and with MV Credit’s expertise we will broaden our global direct lending capabilities to better serve sponsors and other clients while expanding product offerings for our investors.”

Behdad Eghbali, Clearlake’s co-founder and managing partner added that the acquisition will add significant scale to the firm’s credit business.

“We have been very deliberate in how we’ve built our credit business, and the addition of MV Credit, with highly complementary direct lending capabilities, provides us with new opportunities for strategic growth,” he said.

The European Union is pushing to bring more transparency to the booming private credit market as regulators worry its rapid growth could threaten the financial system.