CVC targets $750m special situations fund

London-headquartered investment manager CVC Credit Partners plans to launch this month a special situations fund targeting $750 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

CVC Credit Partners Global Special Situations Fund will be invested in performing loans that are stressed and due to be offloaded by European banks, as a result of banking regulation. The fund is expected to have a six-year term.

In its private debt business, CVC uses its funds to invest in debt instruments issued mainly by companies that are owned by private equity funds, according to its website. The investment strategy for its latest special situations fund is still being formalised however, according to the source.

Key executives on the fund include New York-based Stephen Hickey, chief investment officer of CVC Credit Partners, and Mark DeNatale, partner and global head of trading. Hickey joined CVC from Goldman Sachs, where he spent 20 years in various roles including global head of leverage finance. DeNatale joined CVC last year after 17 years at Goldman, where he was a managing director and head of loan trading. He is responsible for CVC’s growing credit opportunities unit, primarily stressed and distressed investing. CVC declined to comment.

CVC Credit Partners, the credit arm of private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, has grown its US and European credit business from $1.7 billion assets under management in 2006 to $11.8 billion as at 2014, according to its website.

It is focused on sub-investment grade debt capital markets in the US and Europe, but invests across the capital structure, with dedicated vehicles for performing credit, opportunistic strategies and direct lending. CVC has 20 offices throughout the US and Europe, 12 of which are in Europe.