Nuveen agreed to purchase a majority stake in Arcmont Asset Management, a renowned European private debt manager with $21 billion in committed funds. In addition to Churchill Asset Management’s expertise in North American private debt and private equity investments, the acquisition will increase Nuveen’s private capital knowledge and footprint in Europe.
Having been established in 2011, Arcmont has been a leader in the European private debt market, offering financing options for a variety of businesses, sectors, and industries. Since its founding, Arcmont has committed more than $20 billion to 270 deals across Europe. Also, it raised more than $26 billion in capital from more than 350 blue-chip investors.
Moreover, Arcmont’s skilled team of investment professionals combines pan-European origination capabilities with long-standing relationships among private equity funds, corporates, and advisers. In fact, they have about 100 workers across six offices in Europe.
Ken Kencel, President and CEO of Churchill, said, “We are very thrilled to join with Arcmont, a known pioneer in the European debt market, to expand upon our position as one of the leading private finance providers in the US. Together, our two companies can offer scalable and integrated financing solutions to our private equity customers and give investors access to a wider range of lucrative investment possibilities through a world-class global private capital platform”.
The CEO of Arcmont, Anthony Fobel, said, “We are excited to join Nuveen, which gives Arcmont an appropriate collaboration to grow our present business model and to engage in complementary tangential strategies, leveraging Nuveen’s extensive knowledge and distribution capabilities. By leveraging the advantages of the larger company, we anticipate strengthening our position in Europe’s upper middle market lending industry. We are looking forward to collaborating closely with our new partners and developing innovative cross-geographic strategies and complementing goods together”.
With more than $60 billion in committed capital, the skills of Arcmont and Churchill combined will create one of the largest private debt managers in the world, boosting the total value of alternative credit assets managed by Nuveen to $178 billion.
Arcmont and Churchill will collaborate to create Nuveen Private Capital, a new organization, offering both businesses regional size and the capacity to provide a wider choice of products and financing solutions to corporate borrowers.
Both businesses will continue to be run by their own leadership teams, but they will gain access to Nuveen’s extensive resources, knowledge, and distribution capabilities. With a combined investor base of almost 600 institutional and family office investors, Arcmont and Churchill each have more than 240 investing and support specialists.
Kencel and Fobel will serve as co-CEOs of Nuveen Private Capital. They will report to William Huffman, head of Nuveen equity & fixed income, which covers global equities, taxable fixed income, municipals, multi-asset, and private capital. Huffman will also lead Nuveen Private Capital as chairman.
However, Nuveen agreed not to make any changes to the investment teams or procedures of both companies. Churchill and Arcmont will continue to operate under their respective names and logos.
