(Alliance News) - Azimut Holding Spa announced Wednesday that, through its subsidiary Azimut Alternative Capital Partners LLC, it has entered into binding agreements with Petershill of Goldman Sachs Asset Management to acquire Azimut's entire stake in Kennedy Lewis Investment Management for a total of USD225 million.

Azimut's initial investment in KLIM was USD60 million.

Azimut, through AACP, is active in GP Staking, acquiring minority stakes in alternative asset managers such as private equity, private credit, and real assets.

KLIM was AACP's first investment in July 2020, when the company had about USD2 billion in assets under management, now reaching USD14 billion.

KLIM is a leading alternative credit asset manager founded in 2017 by David Kennedy Chene and Darren Lewis Richman. The firm manages private funds, a business development company, collateralized loan obligations, and invests in various sectors and geographies. In addition to KLIM, AACP has completed four other minority stake investments-Pathlight Capital, Roundshield Partners, HighPost Capital, and Broadlight Capital.

The assets under management of these affiliates now total nearly USD7 billion, up 57 percent from the assets under management at the date of the initial investment.

Pietro Giuliani, chairman of the Azimut Group, comments, "As we pointed out earlier this year, this second significant extraordinary transaction-after the one announced on March 28, 2024-demonstrates the quality, often overlooked by most of the market, of our international partnerships in private markets, particularly in the U.S., the world's largest and most sophisticated market for alternatives."

"This transaction," he continues, "means value creation for our shareholders and confirms the validity of our path aimed at international expansion and growth in Private Markets, representing a unique opportunity for our clients in terms of product range and, above all, results.

"Our strategy to unlock the value of Azimut Holding shares," he concludes, "is coming to fruition, and with today's news we remain even more convinced that the share of the dividend proposed at the Shareholders' Meeting should express a value in excess of EUR0.40 per share."

Giorgio Medda, CEO of Azimut Group, adds, "Despite this exit, we are committed to continuing to grow in the GP Staking landscape in the lower/middle market segment, as well as in the broader private market space, in the U.S. and globally. This transaction demonstrates the potential to exit positions in AACP's target investment segment to established buyers of GP Stakes."

Azimut Holding's stock is up 0.2 percent at EUR24.05 per share.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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