- US manager acquires $21bn London-based firm
- Will join US-focused Churchill to create $60bn Nuveen Private Capital
- Arcmont led by ex-BlueBay and Och-Ziff Anthony Fobel as CEO
US asset manager Nuveen, which oversees $1.1trn, has bought London-based private debt manager Arcmont Asset Management.
The move, announced prior to US market open on Thursday, gives Nuveen, which is owned by insurance giant TIAA, a $21bn presence in European private debt alongside its Churchill Asset Management unit in the US.
Arcmont and Churchill will combine to form Nuveen Private Capital, which could be one of the world’s largest private debt managers with more than $60bn in combined committed capital as it stands.
That would bring Nuveen’s firm-wide alternative credit assets under management to $178bn.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, though it was revealed the controlling interest Nuveen will take includes the stake owned by Dyal Capital Partners, which has investments in alternative managers including Graham Capital and MKP.
It should close in the first half of next year.
Arcmont was founded in 2011. Since 2019 it has been led by Anthony Fobel, who was previously managing partner of private debt at BlueBay and headed private investments at Och-Ziff between 2005 and 2010.
Fobel and Ken Kencel, president and CEO of Churchill, will be co-CEOs of Nuveen Private Capital and report to William Huffman, head of Nuveen equity & fixed income.
Scale appears to be a driving factor behind the deal.
“Scale is a significant differentiator in private capital fundraising and deployment, so our complementary capabilities will greatly benefit from a more diversified set of limited partners, enhancing our ability to raise capital – and also accelerating our growth across the entire private debt market,” said Jose Minaya, CEO of Nuveen.
Global macro-economic headwinds are likely to result in continued volatility in the liquid public markets, Nuveen said, meaning the largest private debt managers will benefit from the strong growth trajectory of the asset class.