by Leonard Kehnscherper
Clearlake Capital Group is aiming to triple its credit business with the launch of a unit to help the buyout firm grab a bigger slice of the booming asset class.
“In the next five-plus years, I would love to be talking about a $75 to $100 billion platform,” Clearlake co-founder and Managing Partner José E. Feliciano said in an interview. The Santa Monica, California-based firm currently manages about $30 billion in private and liquid credit investments.
The unit, Clearlake Credit, was set up after Clearlake completed its acquisition of European-focused boutique MV Credit Partners from Natixis Investment Managers, according to a statement Tuesday. The business underwrites investments of as much as $1 billion, including loans to private equity-backed companies as well as collateralized loan obligations. Clearlake bought CLO specialist WhiteStar Asset Management in 2020.
Credit markets gyrated in recent weeks as President Donald Trump’s tariffs prompted investors to recalibrate their risk tolerance.
Clearlake has been “selectively” buying loans in the secondary market over the past weeks, Feliciano said, following a playbook it used during the pandemic.
The firm, which Feliciano founded in 2006 along with Behdad Eghbali, has more than $90 billion of assets under management across private equity, special situations and credit investments. Clearlake invests in the technology, industrials and consumer sectors. Its portfolio includes London’s Chelsea Football Club and learning software company Discovery Education.
Speaking about the impact of tariffs on Clearlake’s credit portfolio, Feliciano said that “a very large part” is invested in businesses “that we think are much more resilient to that type of macro fluctuation — meaning sectors like technology, health care.”
Feliciano said he expects credit investors to continue to rebalance their allocations to Europe from the US, though he anticipates that the latter will remain the larger market.
“The European markets are still somewhat fragmented and there are still some structural impediments for more significant growth, but there’s definitely going to be growth,” he said. “We are cautiously optimistic that there’ll be some really interesting opportunities, particularly in private credit in Europe.”
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