Aug 20, 2018

Financial News LGT bought private debt manager European Capital in 2017 By August 20, 2018 Updated: 9:27 a.m. GMT The private debt arm of asset management giant LGT Group has raised almost $726m for its latest fund, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund, Crown European Private Debt, is the first the private debt manager has raised since LGT acquired LGT European Capital, then known as European Capital, from US private equity shop Ares Management in March last year. The team that will be investing the money is led by four partners including former British army officer Matthew Gordon Clark and private debt veteran Juan Carlos Morales Cortes. LGT’s private debt team provides unitranche financing to lower mid-market European companies typically valued at between €50m and €250m, its website said. The firm has helped finance a number of recent private equity-backed deals including Livingbridge’s acquisition of contract catering business Rhubarb. Zurich-based LGT, which manages $206.1bn, bought the private debt manager in a bid to take advantage of a fast-growing market that developed after banks pulled back from lending following the financial crisis. Firms investing in credit have been able to raise ever-larger funds as investors have piled into the asset class in a bid to boost returns. US private equity giant Ares raised €6.5bn in July for its largest-ever European direct-lending fund. At the end of June, there were more private debt funds in market than ever before, a Preqin report published at the time said. These funds include a $10bn debt fund that Goldman Sachs is raising, the data shows. LGT’s wider business invests in alternative asset managers on behalf of more than 400 pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and banks, its website said. To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email William Louch Scroll for more of this story