Carlyle Group Inc said on Wednesday it would acquire credit investment platform CBAM Partners for nearly $787 million, in a deal that would make the buyout firm the biggest manager of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).
Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle is attempting to grow its credit investment platform and take on peers Apollo Global Management Inc and Blackstone Inc, reports Reuters.
Carlyle in 2016 hired veteran credit executive Mark Jenkins from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to spearhead its expansion into the private credit market.
With the latest deal, Carlyle is set to grow its CLO assets under management to $48 billion, it said. The company is already a big player in the market, having issued 14 broadly syndicated CLOs raising $7.4 billion in 2021, it said.
CBAM was founded in 2016 and is an affiliate of Eldridge that is helmed by baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly. It manages $15 billion of assets across the United States and Europe.
The cash-and-stock deal includes $615 million in cash and nearly 4.2 million newly issued shares, Carlyle said. Based on the last closing price of Carlyle’s stock, the stock component of the deal would be valued at nearly $172 million.
The deal will be immediately accretive to Carlyle’s earnings and is expected to close in the first half of 2022, the company said.
