Mount Logan Capital lists on Aequitas NEO stock exchange

Mount Logan Capital has become the first financial company to publicly list on the Toronto-based Aequitas NEO stock exchange.

The firm, formerly known as Marret Resource Corporation, listed on the NEO stock exchange on Thursday under the ticker “MLC” and had an opening share price of C$0.55 ($.42, €.36).

BC Partners acquired Marret Resource in April and has managed them since. Mount Logan is in a service agreement with BC Partners, but the two operate as separate entities without carry between the two vehicles.

Mount Logan will make investments in private and public senior secured mid-market loans in North America, a shift in strategy form Marret Resources’ former mandate of providing credit to natural resource companies.

“We had been looking for a vehicle to do senior debt, which is hard to do in a BDC format,” Ted Goldthorpe, the chairman and CEO of Mount Logan told Private Debt Investor. “The rules are different in Canada – less restrictions, better for shareholders.”

Prior to the listing, the vehicle raised money from some of its “key strategic partners” and used it to acquire a $16 million loan portfolio. The vehicle also acquired loans of $7.2 million and C$5.1 million ($3.9 million, €3.4 million) sourced from BC Partners.

The portfolio is made up of low mark-to-market volatility, floating-rate first lien debt across a variety of industries including healthcare, industrials and information technologies. The loans are currently being held by a large Canadian bank, a source familiar with the situation said.

The loans focus on low loan-to-value companies, their sweet spot being businesses with EBITDA of between $10 million and $15 million EBITDA, according to Goldthorpe.

As a smaller company, listing on the NEO will allow Mount Logan to garner more attention and coverage than if it had remained private, Goldthorpe said

He also mentioned the firm believes Mount Logan will serve as a complimentary service to BC Partners. Goldthorpe will remain with BC Partners during this role. Goldthorpe said in the future Mount Logan hopes to delve further into alternative credit, potentially offering leveraged yield, dislocated structured credit, regulatory capital and private and mezzanine lending.

London-headquartered BC Partners launched its private credit arm, led by Goldthorpe, in 2017. The company currently has more than C$27 billion ($20 billion, €18 billion) in assets under management in private equity, private credit and real estate.

At press time MLC’s stock price was at C$.50 ($.38, €.33) a share.