Kennedy Lewis receives investment from Goldman Sachs
Alternative credit manager Kennedy Lewis Investment Management has announced that Petershill at Goldman Sachs Asset Management has made a minority investment in the firm.
The transaction comes less than six months after it was reported that the firm may be exploring a sale, along with other strategic options.
Kennedy Lewis said the investment would help to align its interests with clients and accelerate investment in the business, including continuing to attract new hires.
The investment from Petershill will have no impact on Kennedy Lewis’ investment process, management, or day-to-day operations.
Read more: UBS pledges to ‘build on’ real estate and private markets business
In conjunction with the new investment, Azimut Alternative Capital Partners (AACP) will divest its non-controlling, minority equity interest in Kennedy Lewis.
“We are honoured to welcome Petershill as a passive investment partner,” said co-founders and co-managing partners of Kennedy Lewis David Chene and Darren Richman. “Their experience and track record of supporting marquee alternative asset managers will be helpful to us as we continue to grow.” They went on to thank the team at AACP for its contribution to date.
“We see a large and expanding pool of opportunities that are well-suited to our opportunistic, industry-focused approach and will now be even better positioned to seize these opportunities on behalf of our global investor base,” they added.
Read more: Kennedy Lewis launches third opportunistic credit fund with $4.1bn
Petershill co-head Robert Hamilton Kelly said: “Kennedy Lewis is a world-class firm that possesses remarkable depth of expertise in specialised areas of the credit markets that are underserved by traditional lenders and many private credit firms.”
He added: “The firm has distinguished itself through investing in compelling, often complex situations and providing clients with return streams that offer attractive potential returns and diversification from other credit managers, who are often more sponsor focused. We believe they remain strategically positioned to further capitalise on the current market environment and succeed across economic cycles.”
Kennedy Lewis was founded in 2017. It has more than $14bn under management across private funds, a business development company, and collateralized loan obligations.
BofA Securities acted as financial advisor and Seward & Kissel acted as legal advisor to Kennedy Lewis. Sidley Austin served as legal advisor to AACP and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Read more: Investment giants deepen their influence in the private debt space